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| Paris alignment | Reasoning |
|---|---|
| Some progress | Energy access is a priority area for the AfDB, being at the core of the “Light up and Power Africa” “High 5” transformation area established by the Bank. This is evidenced by the recent launch of the M300 initiative to provide energy access to 300 million people. It is further reflected by the highly ambitious energy access targets, strong monitoring and reporting on progress, and very high (and increasing) proportion of energy financing being dedicated to energy access. However, progress towards targets (both the Bank’s overarching universal access target, and the disaggregated targets within the Annual Development Effectiveness Review) has been very limited. Despite alluding to refining a minimum definition of access “in due course”, the Bank has also yet to clearly adopt and consistently apply a working minimum definition of access across its operations. |
| Alignment and reasoning | |
| Energy Access Target | As part of the New Deal on Energy for Africa strategic programme, the AfDB has the aspirational goal of universal energy access across Africa by 2025 (100% in urban areas and 95% in rural areas). To achieve this, it has concrete targets for: (1) 75 million off-grid connections by 2025; (2) 130 million new on-grid connections by 2025; and (3) 130 million households with increased access to clean cooking. |
| Minimum Definition of Access | The Results Management Framework annexed to the AfDB’s Strategy for The New Deal on Energy for Africa 2016–2025, states that measurement of access “will be refined in due course to reflect Tier 3 [according to the Multi-Tier Framework] and above for both electricity and cooking”. However, it is unclear if this is a working definition of energy access being applied consistently across operations. |
| % of Energy Financing Dedicated to Energy Access | 50.09% of total energy financing for the fiscal years 2018–2022 was dedicated to energy access, representing a considerable increase from an already relatively strong 30.9% for the period 2014–2017. |
| Is Progress Monitored | The AfDB’s Annual Development Effectiveness Review includes indicators for tracking progress against energy access and clean cooking targets. |
| Progress against Metrics | The 2023 Annual Development Effectiveness Review reveals the AfDB to be significantly short of many of its highly ambitious 2022 energy access related targets. These include people provided with new electricity connections, new power capacity installed (both total and renewable) and new or improved power transmission lines. Progress against targets was equally low in 2021. This follows an exceptionally challenging year for the AfDB’s entire energy portfolio in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with results falling below those in 2019 for most indicators. |
Energy access target
Energy access remains critically limited in Africa, with 600 million people living without access to electricity, and roughly 1 billion without access to clean cooking. Moreover, global progress on energy access has not been evenly distributed: only one in five of the 935 million people to have gained access since 2000 live in Africa.
To contribute to tackling this urgent priority, the New Deal on Energy for Africa strategic programme breaks down the AfDB’s aspirational overarching goal of universal energy access across Africa by 2025 into four targets:
- Increase on-grid generation to add 160 GW of new capacity by 2025.
- Increase on-grid transmission and grid connections by 160% to create 130 million new connections by 2025.
- Increase off-grid generation to add 75 million connections by 2025.
- Increase access to clean cooking energy for 130 million households.
The AfDB also has a partnership with the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Africa Hub to pursue progress toward Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all (by 2030). The SE4ALL Africa Hub also involves the African Union Commission, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Discussions with the AfDB have indicated that its targets on energy access represent aspirational ambition. The COVID-19 pandemic was also a significant set-back for the prospects of achieving its energy access goals.
Minimum definition of access
When measuring energy access as part of the Results Management Framework annexed to the AfDB’s Strategy for The New Deal on Energy for Africa 2016–2025, the AfDB states that “access will be refined in due course to reflect Tier 3 and above for both electricity and cooking”. However, it is unclear if this is a working definition of energy access being applied consistently across operations.
Energy access progress
The AfDB’s Strategy for The New Deal on Energy for Africa 2016–2025 identifies seven strategic themes to foster the development of the energy sector in Africa. These notably include: (i) setting up the right enabling policy environment; (ii) supporting “bottom of the pyramid” energy access programmes; and (iii) rolling out waves of country-wide energy “transformations”. Consequently, “supporting African countries in strengthening energy policy, regulation and sector governance” is one of five core principle of the strategy. This is materialised through a holistic set of tools such as technical support for national level reforms, supporting the adoption of international standards, and policy-based loans.
The AfDB dedicated approximately half of all its energy financing (50.09%) for the fiscal years 2018–2022 to access.
The AfDB’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) supports the SE4ALL Africa Hub on green mini-grids to invest in sustainable national power systems, off-grid mini-grids, and decentralised home systems. This includes supporting the Hub’s Green Mini-Grid Help Desk, which provides information to policymakers, project developers and regulators of mini grids, specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa, with detailed country reference documents. The Hub collates data and works in 44 African countries to mobilise finance, provide technical support, facilitate policy dialogue and advocate on behalf of its members.
The AfDB is a core supporter of the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI), alongside other Public Development Banks. The Facility provides both flexible financing for small-scale energy access projects and grant funding from its dedicated project preparation facility. It consists of two windows:
- The FEI Off Grid Energy Access Fund (FEI-OGEF): offering local currency short-term debt financing for off-grid energy access companies, with the long-term goal of crowding in local investors. FEI-OGEF also provides technical assistance for structuring deals and broader market development.
- The FEO On-Grid Fund: providing long-term debt financing for mini-grids and small-scale renewable energy solutions (consisting of grids less than 25 MW). The On-Grid Fund also supports project preparation through funding advisory services.
The Facility for Energy Inclusion is also the primary funding source for the African Power Platform, which acts as a networking and advocacy platform for the energy and power industry throughout Africa, pushing for universal energy access.
In 2024, the AfDB (alongside the World Bank Group) also launched “Mission 300” (M300) to provide electricity to 300 million African people by 2030. This initiative has since attracted a supporting coalition of organisations including the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), SE4ALL, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Practically, it involves establishing a new technical assistance facility and seeking to mobilise private sector finance to drive electrification in Africa.
Monitoring and reporting
The AfDB produces an Annual Development Effectiveness Review (ADER) which benchmarks progress according to a selection of development indicators. The 2024 ADER includes a number of relevant metrics, covering both regional progress generally and the AfDB’s specific contribution. These include (but are not limited to): the share of the population with access to electricity and clean cooking solutions, people the AfDB provided with new electricity connections, and new total and renewable power capacity installed.
Despite ambitious targets and transparent reporting, the Bank’s recent ADERs revealed the AfDB to be significantly short across many of its 2022 targets for energy access.
Despite overall progress in the proportion of the population of Africa with access to electricity from 42% in 2015 to 56% in 2022, the rate of improvement (and investment) is still insufficient for universal energy access by 2030 (let alone 2025).
Progress was dampened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and some indicators have even experienced regression, such as the share of the population with access to clean cooking solutions decreasing from 32% in 2015 to 30% in 2022.
Recommendations:
- The AfDB should consider complementing its ambitious overarching energy access targets with a series of interim, graduated targets, to provide stepping stones which can be more effectively used to monitor progress towards reaching its ultimate desired outcomes.
- In light of the acute energy access context of the AfDB’s operations, it is important that the Bank establishes a clear working definition of energy access to have a better grasp of its progress towards achieving its ambitious energy access targets. To do so, the Bank could use the Multi-tier Framework for measuring access (noting this is already referred to in the Strategy for The New Deal on Energy for Africa 2016–2025, but not explicitly endorsed or adopted).
Last Update: February 2025