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The International Monetary Fund has agreed to extend $1.3bn to Rabat under its resilience and sustainability facility, to support renewables and energy efficiency schemes, and to strengthen Morocco’s resilience against natural disasters. It comes just ahead of the IMF and World Bank Group annual meetings, which are going ahead as scheduled in Marrakech on 9-15 October.

Climate change – closely linked to the intractable issues of poverty and inequality – is an issue preoccupying policy-makers around the world, but its impacts are particularly acute across swathes of Africa. But while calls for swifter action to unlock larger amounts of financing were paramount at the inaugural Africa Climate Summit (ACS), held in Nairobi on 4-6 September, it was also apparent that views differ widely on how to address the challenge.

All of Kenyan President William Ruto’s personal energy, facility with words, public charm and ruthless cultivation of influential allies was on show at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, with a very hands-on performance as host of the Africa Climate Summit (ACS) on 4-6 September.

The agreement for Senegal to become only the second African economy to secure a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) has the potential to salvage the climate financing framework’s credibility, which appeared to be flatlining.

£10m ($12.7m) from the United Kingdom International Development-funded FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi) to a new Risk Sharing Backstop Facility (RSBF), which is intended to support sustainable climate infrastructure in Nigeria, was announced on 2 August, during a visit to Abuja by UK foreign secretary James Cleverly.

With the UAE positioned among a select group of major oil producers who expect to keep supplying global markets as the energy transition unfolds, detractors fear that COP28 has been subverted by hydrocarbons industry lobbying, which they claim will be promoted by the climate conference’s president-designate, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company chief executive Sultan Al-Jaber. But it would prove a historic mistake for critics to under-estimate the multi-faceted Al-Jaber’s arguments and commitments, as the UAE commits billions of dollars to renewable energy development in Africa in moves that will help the politically savvy Emirates to forge a powerful southern alliance at a likely polarised COP28.

Proparco, the private sector subsidiary of Groupe Agence Française de Développement (AFD), is investing $6m in E3 Capital’s Nairobi-headquartered Low Carbon Economy Fund.

The pioneering Ghoubet wind IPP, which is nearing completion, will bolster Djibouti’s grid and supply electricity to an associated desalination project, in a pilot project that may point towards a potentially huge Power-to-X offtake demand.

The signing of a land agreement for a 10GW wind project by Masdar, Infinity Power and Hassan Allam Utilities is a major step forward for one of the huge renewable energy projects announced last year at the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh.

The island states off the coast of East Africa are pushing ahead forcefully with renewable energy schemes to reduce their hydrocarbons use. The moves will save money for the authorities in Comoros, Mauritius and the Seychelles by cutting expensive imports of refined products and will also help to address the effects of climate change to which they are particularly vulnerable, writes Marc Howard.

With winter on the horizon and no sign of an end to the energy crisis, the South African government is considering slowing down its decommissioning plans for the country’s fleet of ageing coal-fired power stations, but international partners have called on it to stick to its Just Energy Transition Partnership commitments, writes Tonderayi Mukeredzi.

National utility Eskom says it plans to submit a final application to regulators in April to allow it to exceed the emissions limits at the troubled Kusile coal-fired power station while repairs are carried out.

BP’s commitment to become a renewables-driven energy company has met with some shareholder scepticism, as it is hydrocarbons that still drive profits, while climate campaigners see the UK supermajor, predictably, doing too little to speed the transition while spending too much (through its arts sponsorship, for example) on ‘greenwashing’. (The same can be said for all of the ‘Big Five’ majors, to at least some extent.)

The World Bank Group (WBG) has launched a new $311m fund for renewables in Chad, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo.

African Energy understands that a shortage of finance is hampering the progress of two solar PV plants that form part of a national programme to hybridise existing heavy fuel oil (HFO) plants, reduce emissions and increase energy security through grid diversification.