Last month at COP27, TEA platform partners showcased progress, insights, and delivery announcements from across the TEA community, following the scale-up funding that was announced at COP26 in Glasgow.
COP27 took place on 6-18 November in Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt marking the 27th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties. During the largest annual gathering on climate action, partners supported by the TEA platform showcased a broad range of insights and activities spanning across productive use of energy, skills and expertise, energy in displacement settings, innovative financing mechanisms to reach SDG7 and so much more.
Announcements
During COP27 the TEA community made two significant announcements.
UK Pavilion – Enabling a Just Energy Transition in Africa
Date: 15 November, 12.00-13.00 EET/UTC+2
The UK’s Minster for Climate, Graham Stuart officially launched the ZE-Gen initiative and announced Energy Catalyst Round 9 companies in the UK Pavilion, showcasing the breadth and depth of UK support to the just energy transition in Africa. Both announcements were followed up at SDG7 pavilion with a launch session going into more detail on ZE-Gen and opening a call for additional partners to support clean generator alternatives.
UK Pavilion session watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3KIsvUXhAg
Launch of ZE-Gen
Date: 15 November, 14.15-14.35 EET/UTC+2
The Zero-Emission Generators (ZE-Gen) initiative was launched, aimed at accelerating clean generator alternatives with initial funding from FCDO and IKEA Foundation.
“Zero emission generators are good for the environment and contribute to better health and economic empowerment for the many people.’’ – says Per Heggenes, CEO, IKEA Foundation
Energy Catalyst Round 9
Date: 15 November, 12.00-13.00 EET/UTC+2
The UK’s Minster for Climate, Graham Stuart announced the winners of Energy Catalysts’ £26m Round 9 grant funding to support innovators creating new technologies and business models to deliver a just energy transition.
Full press release here: Announcement of the winners of Energy Catalyst’s £26 million Round 9
Sessions:
Innovative financial mechanisms to help achieve SDG7 faster
Date: 9 November, 15.00-16.00 EET/UTC+2
We kicked off our involvement at COP27 with the Carbon Trust’s CEO Tom Delay sharing insights about the Energy Catalyst programme during the Innovative financial mechanisms to help achieve SDG7 faster – panel. The session focused on the gaps in the finance continuum in delivering new business models to accelerate progress toward SDG7.
Investing in Youth for a Just Energy Transition
Date: 10 November, 13:30-14:30 EET/UTC+2
On Youth Day in partnership with Student Energy we were pleased to share the latest insights from the Transforming Energy Access Learning Partnership (TEA-LP) initiative that is designed to build capacity among youths in the energy access space. The University of Cape Town’s Whitney Pailman expanded on three key policy recommendations and interventions needed:
- Skills: creating linkages between academia and industry to address the skills gap and enhance youth employment opportunities
- Retention: creating a continuum of support to youths interested in #EnergyAccess from high school to undergraduate and then postgraduate studies
- Culture: creating a welcoming culture among employers to facilitate opportunities for young people to feel they belong in a sector with passionate energy access professionals
Whitney also highlighted how support from the Energy Catalyst programme has been crucial in creating work placement opportunities with portfolio companies.
The Carbon Trust’s Tanya Rahman brought the panel to a close with a call to action: “It is young people that are going to lead us into the energy transition, stakeholder relationships between academia, industry and young people will be key in achieving SDG7.”
Health, Wealth, and Environmental Prosperity – Investing in Productive Use to Power Decarbonization
Date: 11 November, 10.30-11.30 EET/UTC+2
This panel explored how enabling clean, reliable, and affordable energy is vital in creating an inclusive transition for underserved communities. Panellists included David Aitken, Director of Innovation, Carbon Trust, Ms Gabriela Elizondo Azuela, Practice Manager ESMAP World Bank, Makena Ireri Director of Clean Energy Access Research East Africa, CLASP and Christopher Emmott, Associate Director of Investing in Energy Access, Acumen.
During the session, Carbon Trust’s David Aitken drew upon the critical need to power homes and businesses to unlock improved income, better health, build better economies and enhance diversity and inclusion, ‘when we talk about the productive use of energy we can look at how technologies and solutions such as water pumps for irrigation, crop processing mills, for agricultural produce, cooling solutions for preserving food, and charging solutions for e-mobility and a whole range of innovative technologies are working to transform innovations to deliver economic, social and environmental benefits for a just energy transition’.
Moderator, Felicity Tolley from Energy Saving Trust, then brought the panel to a close with a call to action for ”increased investment and funding so we can work towards closing the energy access gap by 2030”.
Showcasing the impact of cooling facilities for productive use we closed out the session with a video shining a spotlight and capturing the daily operations of PREO company SokoFresh.
Register here to watch other sessions TEA featured in:SEforALL COP27 – SpotMe
More sessions TEA featured in that you can now watch on demand via the SpotMe app
The Powering Healthcare Energy Compact: building global momentum and lessons learned in India
Date: 12 November, 13:30-14.30 EET/UTC+2
UNFCCC Side Event: Accelerating Clean Energy Innovation To Drive Sustainable, Equitable Growth In Developing Countries – YouTube
Date: 14 November, 11.30-13.00 EET/UTC+2
Partnership to Scale up Energy Access
Date: 16 November, 18:00-19:00 EET/UTC+2
The capital continuum: Catalytic finance driving the clean energy transition in Africa
Date 17 November, 10:30-12:15 EET/UTC+2
The role of innovation in ensuring no one is left behind no matter their current energy situation
17 November, 15.00-16.00 EET/UTC+2