The energy partnership of Africa and the European Union. Joint Africa-EU targets

Abstract

Energy sector of Africa is vital for its development in the future and remains one of the least understood areas of the international energy system. Africa is huge, around the size of the United States, China, India and Europe combined and although it has energy resources sufficient to meet domestic needs, more than two-thirds of its population lacks access to modern energy. Africa’s energy resources effective development could exceed huge profits throughout the economy. How African emerging countries with rich resources can maximize their value? Whereas this in-depth study presents selected energy data and projections across Africa, the focus of the analysis and discussion is on the EU-Africa Energy Partnership and African energy institutions. There are areas in Africa such as rich natural resources and a growing working age population that have the potential advantage but have not yet been fully exploited. In addition, there are many other challenges, such as high levels of poverty and inequality, severe lack of infrastructure, poor governance and corruption, relatively low levels of productivity and skills, and unpredictable levels of political stability. Many of these factors contribute to a difficult and costly to operate business environment.