Africa to shut coal power plants, make world’s largest solar zone: Akinwumi Adesina

Is Africa on the verge of shutting down all coal power stations? The President of African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina received disclosed his ambitious plans to scrap coal power stations across the continent and switch to renewable energy.

The Chief of African Development Bank revealed his intentions while addressing a gathering of leaders and officials from almost 200 countries in New York at United Nations climate discussions. He outlined efforts to shutter coal-fired power plants and build the ‘largest solar zone in the world’ in the arid Sahel belt.

“Coal is the past, and renewable energy is the future. For us at the African Development Bank, we’re getting out of coal,” Akinwumi Adesina told delegates to the recent Climate Action Summit in Manhattan. He further revealed the plans of investing USD 20 billion in solar and clean energy, which will enable the region’s 250 million people to be enlightened by the supply of 10,000 megawatt of electricity. The African Development Bank’s USD 500 million green baseload scheme will be rolled out in 2020 and is set to yield USD 5 billion of investment that will help African countries transition from coal and fossil fuel to renewable energy, Adesina revealed.

“There’s a reason God gave Africa sunlight,” Adesina said.

The government ministries, princes and heads of states from all over the world attended the Climate Action Summit as they confronted mounting pressure to reduce heat-trapping gas emissions and slow the global rise in temperatures.

“But it will require fundamental transformations in all aspects of society — how we grow food, use land, fuel our transport and power our economies. We need to link climate change to a new model of development — fair globalisation — with less suffering, more justice, and harmony between people and the planet,” Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations said.