International partners pledge $2.74 billion to help Senegal reduce dependence on fossil fuels

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA): A group of rich nations and development banks have pledged €2.5 billion ($2.74 billion) to help Senegal reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, President Macky Sall announced Thursday at a summit in Paris.

“Senegal will receive €2.5 billion in funding from international partners in order to increase the renewable energies installed capacity target of 40% of its electricity mix by 2030,” said Sall at the Summit for a New Global Financial Compact.

“We believe that with this money, we will be able to reach or exceed this objective,” he said.

Renewable energy in the West African country currently accounts for 31% of capacity, according to Sall.

The funding is provided under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) for a fair energy transition supported by France, Germany, the UK, Canada and the European Union.

The money will be mobilized over an initial period of three to five years, starting this year.

The JETP partnership was born at a UN summit in 2021, serving as a mechanism for mobilizing public and private finance to help developing countries shift from fossil fuels.

Senegal’s agreement, negotiated at the UN COP27 climate summit held in Egypt last November, comes after three similar deals with Indonesia, Vietnam and South Africa.

Fossil fuel accounts for more than 80% of global energy consumption, but scientists say that there is a need to substantially reduce its production to avoid a potentially catastrophic rise in global temperatures.

A 2021 study published in the Journal of Nature showed that a vast majority of Earth’s remaining fossil fuels must remain underground by 2050 to prevent the worst consequences of climate change such as worsening extreme weather, irreversible ecosystem shifts and loss of life as well as economic hardship.