Manufacturing initiative set to unleash Africa’s renewable potential

The international initiative will help encourage financial, technical and socioeconomic investment which is required for the continent to realise its exceptional energy potential. 

Home to 60% of the world’s best solar resources, Africa has the potential to become a global green manufacturing hub. As African nations make progress on energy development and transition, it is increasingly critical to establish local supply chains and talent to ensure the socio-economic benefits of renewable energy and sustainable development accrue locally. AREMI will focus on capacity building, knowledge transfer, policy dialogues, and advocacy, as well as enabling pilot projects that drive low-emission development and carbon neutrality in Africa through four key programmes: 

• Enable a best-in-class business environment and drive market demand: Partner with African government officials to accelerate and bolster their policymaking for green manufacturing through policy awareness, leadership development, and advocacy

• Build Africa’s green manufacturing workforce: Scale training, employment, and career development opportunities for engineers and technicians in Africa through support for technical schools, online courses, and worker exchange

• Attract green manufacturers to Africa: Help build granular business cases, identify optimal operating models, support tailored advocacy and policy negotiations, and scale green capacity investment and best practice partnerships to provide mature green manufacturers with better access to consulting and financing services and cultivate a robust green manufacturing ecosystem

• Incubate African green manufacturing projects and policies: Provide end-to-end grant support for green manufacturing projects in Africa, from planning and financing to operations and sale of projects. 

"Building green manufacturing capacity is key to rapidly scaling renewable energy in Africa,” said Helen Mountford, oresident and CEO of ClimateWorks Foundation. “Many countries from the Global South are now leading the global renewable energy supply chain. Partnering with, and sharing lessons learned from, renewable energy production efforts in China, India, ASEAN countries, and others, can help countries in Africa to build their own capacity and swiftly address roadblocks. This can help them unlock significant investment and commercial collaboration on manufacturing and deployment, as well as accelerating efforts domestically to alleviate energy poverty. ClimateWorks is proud to partner with the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative to support African countries in realising their vision of creating sustainable, thriving economies that benefit communities and tackle the climate crisis.”