COP18 (26/11/12) – Ansgar Kiene, Director of the Africa Liaison Office at World Future Council talks about his work aimed at re-fitting Africa with renewable energy. He says that the majority of African countries are facing an energy crisis which is leading to a loss of productivity for manufacturers and is a major barrier to social development.

He warns that the policy framework to create renewable energy in the region is not in place and that it is important to find solutions within the context of Africa. He says it is not possible to copy and paste the policy framework from the global north to implement in the global south.

He says that such as re-fit policy must be part of a broad coalition of government departments, business and civil society and that it must be part of a country’s whole development agenda.

He explains how working in all regions of Africa it is important to realise that while it is one continent it is made up of many different countries and one policy would not be suitable for the whole region.