Ethiopia is already one of the greenest countries in the world (though that may surprise many). And with its ambitious but far from incredible plans to become a middle income country with zero net carbon growth by 2025, through implementation of its new Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy, it should continue on this path.
The potential to exploit renewable – hydro, solar, wind, geothermal and solid waste – is huge.
That’s why Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change Gregory Barker led a 20 member low carbon/green growth business mission to Addis Ababa last week, during which the members met the Prime Minister; State Ministers of Water/Energy and Finance/Economic Development; the Heads of the Environmental Protection Authority and Ethiopian Electric Corporation; and a range of companies doing business in this sector, all potential partners for our visitors.
It was the largest such mission ever. The Minister also called on the African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy and met Ambassadors and experts with views on how the continent is addressing climate change issues.
The missioners included renewable energy developers and practitioners; trainers; financiers and underwriters. The aim was to share expertise and create well-rounded partnerships in sustainable and green energy solutions for this region of Africa. And to judge from the reactions of the missioners it was a tremendous success.
Much needs to be done to set in place the right policies and mechanisms to enable our companies to put in place the very substantial investment that will be necessary. But subject to that there will be considerable interest from relevant bodies in the UK in what Ethiopia has to offer. The scope for win-win projects is immense – one day, Ethiopia will be providing renewable energy to Europe.
Climate change is a global problem. And the Horn of Africa is especially vulnerable to changes in weather patterns. So it is logical, but also very encouraging that Ethiopia sees that we need to find alternative ways to create energy that do not release carbon into the atmosphere and make the situation even worse than it is.
Of course it will be necessary for some time to ensure that humanitarian assistance is in place to help vulnerable populations when things go wrong. But it is equally important to build commercial relationships to exploit the many renewable energy options available to our mutual benefit – and therefore to mitigate the risks in the longer term.
That’s what this business mission was all about.