RES4Africa and AVSI with the support of Enel Green Power, UNEP, and SEforALL have launched an initiative where African youths can give their ideas to top institutions and policymakers on the issue of climate change and energy.
The forum focused on renewables, climate change, and the continent’s energy transformation as part of the pre-COP26 youth All4Climate Italy 2021- driving Aspiration.
The maiden event, titled “African Youth-Led Summit: Climate Change and Renewable Energy,” took place on September 28th and included a joint conversation between many young delegates from youth networks (Irena, SE4All, Alliance for Rural Electrification, Aweef, SDG7 Youth Constituency, European Youth Energy Network, Technical Solidarity, Ethiopian Women in Energy, Rete Giovani, Open Africa Power Programme Alumnae), as well as a joint discussion between young representatives from the youth.
The debate’s outcomes were developed and modeled into a Final Youth Agenda, which was then presented to high-level government and non – governmental elected members at the second event, “Driving a just energy transition – leaving no youth behind.”
The youth’s main recommendations focused on improving access to good education, democratizing clean renewable energy markets, growing youth participation in sustainability goals, and boosting inclusive to help in strategy formulation while publicizing incentives that promote incubator growth, innovation hubs, and access to aided financing.
According to Salvatore Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power and President of RES4Africa Foundation, “Today’s youth are being challenged to lead an extraordinary revolution that will see the energy transition and its positive implications on jobs, wealth, health, and equality realized”.
He also said that the only way to truly make young changemakers owners of their future is to provide them with access to capacity building, policy debate, and bottom-up initiatives.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the European Investment Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Siemens Gamesa, Enel Foundation, Schneider Electric, the Italian Embassy in Zambia, Uganda, and Ethiopia, and Nedbank all endorsed the events.
Meseret Teklemariam Zemedkun, the UN Environment Programme’s Head of the Energy Unit stated: “Women’s empowerment and leadership in the energy industry might speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy by supporting clean energy and more efficient energy consumption, as well as addressing energy poverty.”
She further commented that gender viewpoint should be included in the “just transition” to ensure equitable gender equity in the workforce.
“To combat climate change, we must engage together, as no single effort would have an effective impact,” said Giampaolo Silvestri, Secretary-General of the AVSI Foundation.
“We are being called to think in new ways and to reason as a collective, rather than as individuals.”
