2026 HIGH LEVEL POLITICAL FORUM
Accelerating Energy System Innovation and Transition for Equity and Resilience to Advance Global Sustainable Development
Statement
By
Mr. Claver Gatete
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and
Executive Secretary of ECA
New York
10 July 2026
Excellencies,
Distinguished colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is a pleasure to join you today.
I wish to start by commending GEIDCO and all partners for convening this timely dialogue on the margins of the High-level Political Forum.
Indeed, few issues better capture the intersection of sustainable development, resilience and economic transformation than energy.
Today, the world is navigating slower growth, geopolitical tensions, climate change and tightening fiscal space.
Together, these forces are impacting investment decisions, disrupting production systems and testing the resilience of economies everywhere.
More recently, the conflict in the Middle East has further underscored how quickly external shocks can ripple through energy markets, supply chains and financing conditions, affecting countries far beyond the region.
This reinforces the simple fact that energy security is inseparable from economic security.
And the figures confront us with an undeniable challenge.
The world is off track to achieving SDG 7.
Around 600 million people in Africa still lack access to electricity, while 400 million lack clean water.
These statistics lead us to a more fundamental question.
How can we industrialize without reliable energy?
How can we create productive employment for Africa’s rapidly growing workforce if businesses, factories and digital industries cannot access affordable and dependable electricity?
For Africa, therefore, the energy transition is not simply an environmental agenda; it is fundamentally a development agenda.
It is about powering industries, creating jobs, improving food systems, strengthening resilience and accelerating structural transformation.
Fortunately, Africa also possesses many of the ingredients for success.
The continent holds around 60% of the world’s best solar resources, significant hydro, wind and geothermal potential and more than 30% of global reserves of critical minerals essential for the clean energy transition.
Combined with the African Continental Market of 1.5 billion people, with the highest youthful population, these assets provide a unique opportunity to build regional value chains, expand manufacturing and create productive employment.
But we also know that opportunity by itself is not enough to deliver transformation.
Unlocking Africa’s renewable potential will require major investment in generation, transmission infrastructure and regional power interconnections.
The same is true for Africa’s vast critical mineral endowment. Exporting raw minerals will not create the jobs, industries or prosperity the continent seeks.
Value addition requires energy. Reliable and affordable electricity is what will transform cobalt, lithium, graphite and other critical minerals into batteries, electric vehicle components and other higher-value manufactured products.
Additionally, Artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital services are driving unprecedented global demand for data centres – facilities that require vast amounts of reliable, affordable and increasingly clean electricity.
If Africa is to participate competitively in the digital economy, then it must build the energy systems capable of powering this new generation of industries.
The countries that can provide abundant, reliable and sustainable energy will be best positioned to capture investment in both advanced manufacturing and the digital economy.
Innovation, therefore, must extend beyond technology itself to encompass policy, financing, institutions and regional cooperation.
And there is every reason for optimism.
Across the continent, countries are already demonstrating that with the right policies, investments and partnerships, energy transformation is within reach.
Kenya has become a global leader in geothermal energy. Morocco continues to scale renewable energy investments while positioning itself in green hydrogen.
Ethiopia’s hydropower investments are already supporting regional electricity trade and strengthening energy integration across Eastern Africa.
Across the continent, regional power pools are boosting energy security through greater cross-border cooperation.
These examples demonstrate that resilience is built through partnership, long-term investment and regional integration, and they provide a practical roadmap for the future.
The task now is to move from isolated achievements to systemic transformation across the continent, so that no country is left behind.
In this regard, allow me to suggest four priorities for our collective consideration.
First, we must accelerate investment in resilient energy infrastructure, particularly transmission networks, regional interconnections, storage systems and smart grids, so that renewable energy reaches households and productive sectors alike.
Second, we must mobilize substantially greater investment through innovative financing, stronger domestic capital markets and de-risking instruments that unlock private capital for Africa’s energy transition.
Third, we must ensure that Africa’s energy transition also becomes an industrial transition.
Our renewable resources and critical minerals should power competitive regional value chains, local manufacturing and value addition under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Finally, we must invest in people as much as infrastructure.
In this regard, we welcome the launch of the Global Energy Interconnection Academy, which can play an important role in strengthening the technical, regulatory and institutional capacities needed to design resilient, integrated and future-ready energy systems, particularly across developing countries.
Excellencies,
ECA is ever ready to work with GEIDCO and all partners to advance regional power integration, enabling policy frameworks and sustainable energy systems that accelerate implementation of both AU Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
I thank you.