Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET) at the UNFCCC Africa Climate Week 2023

CEET members convened at the Africa Climate Week to discuss low carbon energy and green technology pathways for economic development in Africa.

In an effort to build momentum ahead of the negotiations and conclusion of the first global stocktake at COP28 in Dubai, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is partnering with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UN Climate Change, and World Bank Group to host four Regional Climate Weeks (RCWs) (RCWs) in 2023. The RCWs provide a platform for policymakers, practitioners, businesses and civil society to exchange on climate solutions, barriers to overcome, and opportunities realized in different regions.

Every year, RCWs will be held across the regions of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Northern Africa. Last week, the CEET hosted a session titled “Low Carbon Energy and Green Technology Development: Pathways for Development of Economic Livelihoods in Africa” during the Africa Climate Week held in Nairobi, Kenya. The Africa Climate Week, hosted by the government of Kenya, was organized in parallel with the Africa Climate Summit, which focused on climate action financing, a green growth agenda for Africa, climate action and economic development in the region, and global capital optimization to advance solutions for both Africa and the world at large.

CEET members, Vijay Modi, Professor and Director, Quadracci Sustainable Engineering Laboratory, Columbia University; Norah Magero, Co-Founder and CEO, Drop Access; and Izael Da Silva, Professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Innovation, Strathmore University; and Professor Chukwuemeka Diji Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Deputy Vice Chancellor, Kampala International University, participated in a panel in which they discussed low carbon energy expansion pathways in Africa, green energy investment and policy opportunities and challenges, and the effects of just energy transitions for sustainable development. The CEET members offered key insights and perspectives as both academic and practicing engineers who have worked for decades to advance solutions for energy access and development, economic advancement, and addressing climate change.

Key questions that were discuss in the session included:

• How can decentralized clean energy systems support each other and eventually be interactive with centralized systems?
• How can one address the issue of maintenance which is plaguing operators since they end up costing disproportionately, in particular with access gaps that are in remote settings?
• How to accurately measure and match rural and industrial demand with a clean supply?

The CEET is grateful to the Council’s Steering Committee members, Gajanana Hegde, Team Leader, Regulatory Development (Energy), UNFCCC, and Chibulu Luo, Programme Manager, Sustainable Energy Hub, UNDP, for their support in the organization of this event. The CEET looks forward to convening in the upcoming RCWs as part of the Council’s work to inform the implementation of localized technical engineering pathways and scalable solutions to accelerate the energy transition across different regions around the world.

In addition to CEET's attendance at UNFCCC Africa Climate Week, CEET also participated in the UNECE Sustainable Energy Week 2023 and will be at the next three regional climate weeks and COP28. Please get in touch if you'd like to collaborate at any of these climate events.

Read CEET's Highlights UNECE SEW 2023

Learn more about the Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET).

Read more about SDSN’s work on the road to COP28.