African Development Bank

Institutional leadership and information sharing

This page is part of the E3G Public Bank Climate Tracker Matrix, our tool to help you assess the Paris alignment of public banks, MDBs and DFIs

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Paris alignmentReasoning
Paris alignedLeadership in specific areas such as energy access and resilience.

Explanation

There are a number of areas where the AfDB has shown institutional leadership. 

Energy access has been identified as an area where the AfDB is leading among the MDBs.  The Bank participates in various global platforms focused on energy access, such as the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, and is engaged in regular exchanges with key development partners to share its experience. On the specific aspects of mini-grids, the Bank through its Green Mini-Grid (GMG) Market Development Program integrates and shares best practice in the mini-grid space through its GMG helpdesk, is a key member of the GMG partnership that comprises other financers, developers, foundations and public sector representatives.  In 2016 a “partnership-driven effort” led by the African Development Bank has founded the New Deal on Energy for Africa (NDEA), which set the goal of achieving universal electricity access for the continent by 2025.  At the time, a major obstacle to this goal was a lack of easily available and consistent data, so the Bank developed the Africa Energy Portal, a “one-stop source” for energy sector information in Africa.  The database also serves as a platform for knowledge sharing, where various public and private agents including policymakers, investors and researchers can share knowledge and ideas. 

The AfDB has been a significant actor in African climate adaptation and resilience. As detailed in the ‘Climate risk’ page, the Bank has been an innovative and guiding actor  for over a decade with the Strategy of Climate Risk Management and Adaptation.  The Adaptation Benefit Mechanism, as well, shows transformative potential in it’s pilot stage, and if successful can serve as an instrument to work toward a “climate-proof” Africa. The Bank’s ADRiFi and African Carbon Support Program also show’s the Bank’s ability to strategically work with private partners to lead the continent to climate resilience and adaptation. 

Another potentially transformative programme led by the AfDB is the Desert to Power Initiative, a large-scale programme which aims to harness the solar resource of the Sahara Desert across the Great Green Wall covering 11 countries on the Southern frontier of the Sahara Desert. The programme presents a solar investment opportunity for both public and private investments in the region, with the objective of providing energy access for 250 million people in Africa and 10GW of additional capacity. The first solar programme, the Yeleen Project, commenced late last year in Burkina Faso. 

The Bank has demonstrated leadership in a number of its new initiatives aimed at building the “Africa we want”. Initiatives that are potentially transformational in the Bank’s climate work include the Adaptation Benefit Mechanism piloting from 2019 to 2023, Africa Energy Market PlaceClimDev Special Fund and the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa

Recommendation: We recommend the Bank revise their technical assistance exclusions, internal carbon pricing and energy efficiency standards. 

Last Update: November 2020

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