Tony O. Elumelu, CFR, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, joined King Charles III of the United Kingdom and U.S. President Biden at the Climate Finance Mobilisation Forum in London on Monday to help attract a new generation of capital to combat climate change.
Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires unlocking private investment at unprecedented speed and scale.
Mr. Elumelu is one of Africa’s most prominent advocates for equitable climate finance and is a leading funder of young African entrepreneurs – through the Tony Elumelu Foundation – working to create sustainable climate solutions.
“Africa needs a just, fair, equal and a realistic strategy to address the inequalities that exist between Africa and the rest of the world,” Elumelu said.
Africa has a significant energy deficit and must prioritize the provision of a mix of both traditional and renewable energy. Emerging economies, particularly in Africa, will require an additional $1 trillion of investment per annum by 2030 to support a fair transition. To mobilise this scale of capital, the world needs bold actions and innovative new partnerships between public, private, and philanthropic actors.
Recent trends show a decrease in renewable energy investment to emerging and developing economies. Africa’s green revolution requires urgent, immediate and significant funding – funding that is larger than the resources available to African governments, and private sector. As Elumelu repeatedly champions, Africa has contributed the least to today’s climate crisis, but continues to suffer an outsized impact of climate change.
Elumelu, who will be representing the African private sector, was invited to the forum by Grant Sharps, UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, and John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy on Climate. The invitation came at the request of King Charles III and US President Joe Biden.
“A Net Zero conversation that ignores, dismisses, or underestimates the continent’s current reality does us all more harm than good,” Elumelu said. “Climate finance investment should deploy capital to a mix of on and off-grid solutions that are required to deliver affordable, reliable, and accessible power in Africa.”
According to Elumelu, “Africans bear the harshest effects of the climate crisis and are the least responsible for creating this crisis in the first place.”
This meeting follows the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, which Elumelu participated in Paris, hosted by H.E. Emmanuel Macron, the President of France. The Summit laid the groundwork for a new financial system suited to the challenges of the 21st century: a system that will boost investments in green infrastructure and create innovative solutions to climate vulnerability.
