Q1 Madam President, we launched a really ambitious campaign focused on scaling up renewable energy in Africa, and we did that last November alongside President Ramaphosa. Because I think we all believed in this power of the untapped potential of Africa to make sure that the demographic dividend that we are going to see in the future became an opportunity not a liability, because we know right now there are 600 million people across the continent who do not have access to electricity. So when you think about what ultimate success looks like in this campaign, can you paint for us a vision we are heading towards the G20 meeting later this year? What does success look like for the scaling-up renewable energy [‘Scaling Up Renewables] campaign in your view?
President von der Leyen: Indeed, you said it 600 million people have no access to electricity in Africa. And just imagine having no access to electricity in your daily life. This means the children that have no light to do their homework in the evening. This means no electricity for cooking. This means no fridge for your food etcetera. So this is not only a question of technology, it is also a question of human dignity that these people have access to electricity at home.
My second point is: How are we now going to make this electricity available? You can go into the fossil fuels. But this would fuel climate change, of course, because of the additional emissions that will be out there. This will intensify the desertification. This would intensify the extreme weather events. This will push people out of the continent, etcetera. So of course we choose renewables. And renewables on a continent that has the resources in abundance – sun, wind and hydropower. What is lacking is the infrastructure to use that. But Africa has an enormous amount of skilled young people that are just waiting for the opportunity to have the good job.
So here comes our campaign. This is the campaign to mobilise pledges – not only from Heads of State and Government, so countries, but also the business sector, because it is a fantastic business case – and to invest in renewables for Africa. I hope we can have an amazing result in Johannesburg at the end of this year. Mobilise politics, mobilise the business sector for the benefit of the people in Africa.
Q2 As you said earlier, we have this extraordinary opportunity leading into the G20 in November and we have just heard a great example of how blended financing – from bootstrapping to private sources of capital to ultimately government financing – has played a huge role. What is your message to other world leaders who are thinking of stepping up and supporting this campaign? And as you think about the opportunity leading into the G20, how would you like to frame it?
President von der Leyen: It is a fantastic business case. Because the world will need much, much more energy. Just think about artificial intelligence, for example. So the demand for energy will rise. And here, if we do the right steps, the right choice, this is exactly where to go to. It is the perfect business case if we join forces. Gqi Raolekas example is telling, and joining forces means message to the Heads of State and Government, provide the public funding for the de-risking, for the leveraging that is necessary; provide the conducive regulatory environment for the business, that is our job with the governments and the partners that we have. But also, for the companies, it is an enormous opportunity: Come with your knowledge, come with your specific business idea, invest there, and lets join forces.
And we see that the response is enormous. We have put out in our investment programme Global Gateway EUR 300 billion for infrastructure abroad. [EUR] 150 billion of this goes to Africa, and a big chunk of this goes into the renewables. But we know we cannot do it alone. So as I said, we have to join forces with the private sector. Therefore, we use our capital to de-risk, we do the reforms with the partner countries, and we work closely with them on projects that develops skills, for example. And then, the business sector comes in with its ideas, with its technologies – of course, with its entrepreneurship, which is necessary. Gqi is the perfect example for that. It is a perfect win-win-win situation for all who are there together. And of course, going up to G20 in Johannesburg, this will be our demand – not only to the Heads of State and Government, but also to the business sector: engage and lets join forces. Together we can make this campaign a real success.
