Thread by @althecat

The EC President Ursula @vonderleyen has just announced a European "Global Gateway" 150 billion EUR investment plan for Africa with Senegal President and new AU Chairperson @Macky_Sall during a visit to Senegal

A preview of her trip from @AFP is here.
rfi.fr/en/africa-s-mo…

This thread will compile details and reaction as soon as they come available.

This looks like an attempt by the EU to reset its relationship with Africa and comes on the heels of the African Union Conference just held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

https://twitter.com/althecat/status/1491780392235450371?s=20&t=vSdj1LRaGxTsuAUANngaug

The scale of this investment announcement for Africa is unprecedented. And more details about "Global Gateway" can be found here on the EC Website >> ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/…

The 300 Billion investment scheme was announced on 1 December in this press statement >> ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…

The press statement does not mention Africa explicitly but there are several supporting documents that do. An accompanying Q&A [ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…] contains this high level explanation of the program.

A detailed communication on this EU Strategy/Investment Commitment can be found here >> [ec.europa.eu/info/sites/def…]. It which mentions Africa 11 times, but uses significantly smaller numbers than announced today.

This part of the announcement suggests the strategy was/is a response to the call for Climate Infrastructure funding - for mitigation (reduction in emissions) and adaptation (defensive responses to existing climate impacts) at COP26 in Glasgow.

Developing nations, many in Africa, were disappointed with the absence of concrete outcomes on "climate finance" at COP26, especially the last minute removal of wording on a "Loss and Damages" facility from the final agreed "cover decision," > unfccc.int/sites/default/…

From the look of things, what has been announced today is significantly larger than what was agreed back in December.

"To bring this up the political agenda, the European Union will make Global Gateway a priority for multilateral summits with international partners.. [incl the] the EU-African Union Summit."

Today this ^^ commitment appears to have been delivered on.

It will be interesting to see how the United States, United Kingdom and China react to this announcement.

Note: The estimated investment shortfall needed to address Climate Change is estimated to be between 750 Billion and 1.3 Trillion USD per annum.

Powerpoint slide like version of the key features of "Global Gateway". Taken from the website >> ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/…

1. "The Global Gateway stands for sustainable and trusted connections that work for people and the planet."

2. The Global Gateway investment scheme intends to be Principled, and has a strong ethical focus.

3. As designed the fund will have a broad range of possible investment areas. And importantly WRT Africa - including Energy, Health, Education and Transport. Which is where investment is most needed.

4. Where the money is expected to come from:

- 50% public (135 Billion from >> ec.europa.eu/info/funding-t… + 18 Billion from the EC itself.)

- 50% private. (145 Billion from "European financial and development finance institutions")

This last part is perhaps the most important aspect of this. In spite of commitments first made in 2009 in Copenhagen, and repeated in Paris in 2015 developing nations failed to hit a 2020 target of 100 Billion in annual climate financing.

The public financing component of this works out to roughly 30 Billion EUR PA. Which means the promised target has now been met, in commitments at least.

But getting this level of investment funds into projects quickly will not be easy. To date climate financing investments in developing nations have also been plagued by dodgy accounting tricks and very slow deal flow.

But addressing these issues should be easier with significantly more funding coming on stream, especially if China, the UK and the US join in the effort in a significant way.

N.B. investments here will likely be significantly leveraged by African National Govt contributions.