New report suggests SDG7 could be achieved by 2034

The Africa-EU Energy Partnership's second annual European Financial Flows on SDG7 to Africa report has been published.

The report finds that under the current trajectory and growth rate of investments, SDG7 – the objective of providing access to cost-effective, dependable, sustainable, and modern energy for all –  could be achieved by 2034.

The report, which covers 2014-2020, continues examining Europe’s financial flows to Africa and measures how fast the rate of investment has grown due to the long-term support from African governments, multilaterals, and EU institutions and member states.

Research was led by John Hamilton, Marc Howard, Jon Marks, Tonderayi Mukeredzi, Ajay Ubhi and the African Energy team via African Energy's parent company Cross-border Information (CbI).

Selected findings

• The 2021 report discovered that accomplishing SDG7 in Africa would require a substantial amount of resources. Results indicated that investments should be increased by at least 350% per year to reach SDG7 by 2030.
• Closing the financing gap will require both additional public and private investment. Given the pressures on public funds due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related debt pressures, the role of the private sector will be critical in closing the funding gap.
• Building a fully interconnected transmission grid in Africa and well-functioning power pools will be of utmost importance in the years to come.
• The report indicates that an upgraded transmission and distribution infrastructure offers the best route to ensuring low-cost supply and accessible energy for all Africans.

Download the full report here

An interactive data tool produced for the report may be found here

Read the African Energy team's full analysis of the report's findings – alongside a series of interactive graphics illustrating the data

Explore our coverage of the transmission question: Linking Africa’s power markets could revolutionise African electricity supply industries.