Africa needs massive investment for green energy transition – banker  

Africa will need more than $700 billion in investment to develop its renewable energy and expand mining of the metals required for a green transition, the CEO of Standard Bank Group, Kenny Fihla, told Bloomberg.

According to him, funding for extracting minerals used in renewable energy projects “will have to come from international investors who want to grow in the renewable space or play a role in the renewable space or in the mining of those critical minerals.”

He added that African banks will not be able to finance such projects on their own.

Energy analysts say renewable power could help solve a severe energy crisis Africans have been facing for decades. Some 600 million people – about half of the continent’s population – currently don’t even have access to electricity.

“It is not possible for Africa and many of the African countries to ignore the shortage of electricity supply,” Fihla said in a separate interview with Bloomberg.

At the same time, Africa holds all the necessary resources for green energy projects, from solar panels to electric vehicle batteries. Minerals such as copper and cobalt can be found in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, platinum and manganese seams in South Africa, and lithium deposits in Zimbabwe.

“Many of the minerals that are required to build solar panels, lithium batteries, wind turbines and so on, are found in sub-Saharan Africa,” Fihla confirmed. “Our team has also quantified the amount of investment that is required in that space as in the order of hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Standard Bank, which is Africa’s largest lender by assets, expects to reach the “upper end” of lending between 250 billion rand ($13.25 billion) and 300 billion ($15.88 billion) for renewable energy by 2026, Fihla said.

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