Africa Climate Summit 2025, Ministerial Dialogue: Expanding energy access and resilient infrastructure

Excellencies, distinguished ministers, colleagues, and friends,

It is an honor to join you at this Ministerial Dialogue, at a moment when the choices we make for energy and infrastructure will define the continent's development path for decades to come.

We often speak of Africa's energy challenge as one of supply: how to generate more power, add more megawatts, and expand the grid.

And yes, supply is vital.

But a significant challenge before us is not simply producing electricity-it is ensuring that electricity is used productively, in ways that generate reliable demand, create livelihoods, and sustain communities.

What matters is not just the electricity that is generated, but the lives that electricity transforms.

Energy, Resilience, and Livelihoods
When we reframe energy this way, we see it not only as an infrastructure investment, but as an investment in adaptation.

In Africa, where more than two-thirds of the post-harvest food supply is lost, electric pumps, new food processing, and conservation equipment help communities increase and preserve food supply and diversify incomes, making them less vulnerable to severe floods or droughts.

When electricity flows to irrigation, to cold chains, to agro-processing-it anchors food security, creates jobs, and strengthens resilience.

And as temperatures rise and heat waves become more frequent, power fans and cooling devices can help prevent heat-related illnesses and deaths and improve labor productivity.

Energy access also supports communities facing extreme weather or climate shocks.
During droughts, flooding, or hurricanes, early warnings are critical, for example, to advising communities whether they should evacuate or shelter in place before a hurricane.

• When disasters hit, governments and emergency services must coordinate action and collect data and information to target their support to communities.
• The ability for people and firms to respond and recover quickly-whether to charge a phone, use solar-powered radios and lighting, access money, or receive government support-is dependent on energy access.

In this way, electricity is not simply about lighting homes-it is about safeguarding food systems, protecting health, and creating jobs that build resilience in the face of climate shocks.

In other words: energy is not just power. It is the foundation of resilience, livelihoods, and hope.

Mission 300: A Shared Platform
This is why the World Bank and the African Development Bank have joined forces under Mission 300, with the goal of connecting 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.

Through this platform, we are investing in households, farms, small enterprises, schools, and health facilities.

Mission 300 will close the energy gap by making energy infrastructure more resilient.

By adding off-grid renewable solutions, Mission 300 will enhance the resilience of power systems and reach communities that previous technologies could not.

• For example, distributed renewable energy, or DRE, such as mini-grids or standalone solar, will increase connections in underserved areas and boost their resilience.
• Eight out of 10 people without electricity today live in fragile, remote, or conflict-affected regions, and DRE technologies are the cheapest and easiest way to connect them.
• At the same time, DRE solutions are portable, can be quickly deployed or restored after an extreme weather event, and can serve as backup power during outages.
• Distributed renewables are not an add-on. They are a lifeline.

In Nigeria, the DARES project will help over 17 million Nigerians gain access to clean and efficient electricity using distributed renewable energy solutions, replacing over 250,000 polluting and expensive diesel generators.

• It will not only address immediate energy needs but also strengthen the long-term resilience of Nigerian communities by reducing vulnerability to power cuts.

Moreover, in Sierra Leone, demand-led mini-grids are proving that rural electrification can be commercially viable when tied directly to productive uses like milling, cold storage, and digital services.

But I will also say that we are pursuing both distributed renewables and grid expansion-because Africa needs both.

Here in Ethiopia, pilot programs are linking irrigation with distributed solar, ensuring that farmers have the water they need when the rains fail.

• And the World Bank's Ethiopia Electrification Program (ELEAP) has already facilitated 1.6 million on-grid connections, bringing power to more than 8 million people and over 19,000 schools, clinics, and government facilities.

These are not isolated stories-they are proof points. They show that Africa can scale productive-use energy solutions continent-wide.

The Cost of Inaction
But let us also be clear about the cost of inaction. Estimates show that damages caused by extreme weather events across Sub-Saharan Africa cost the power sector up to $1.5 billion annually, burdening already budget-constrained governments and utilities.

Efforts to boost energy access will be worthless if essential energy infrastructure doesn't keep up.

A World Bank study found that manufacturing firms experiencing power outages had, on average, 9% lower revenue-based total factor productivity than those not facing outages.

And the IMF estimates that power disruptions result in productivity losses averaging between 4% and 10% for Ethiopian manufacturing firms.

Power outages force firms and critical infrastructure to rely on expensive and polluting backup generators, decreasing productivity, entrepreneurship, and employment.

In Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Kenya, recurring and intensifying droughts have already put tremendous pressure on power systems and hydropower supply, dramatically affecting agricultural productivity and food security.

In West Africa, many countries face the double threat of frequent heatwaves, which can strain electricity infrastructure and create fire-prone conditions, and flooding, which can submerge transformers and substations and sweep away distribution lines.

That is lost business, lost competitiveness, lost jobs.

• But the costs are not just financial. They are measured in lost food, lost health, and lost lives.
• When a clinic goes dark, a newborn in an incubator is put at risk.
• When cold storage fails, a farmer's entire harvest can be lost in a single night.
• When irrigation pumps stop, fields wither, and families go hungry.
• This is the true cost of delay.

That is why we must build resilient energy infrastructure that not only withstands the test of time, but the test of changing weather patterns.

Enablers: Policy and Finance

But scaling productive-use energy requires more than technology. It requires the right policies and financing instruments.

• Policy reforms that create predictable demand, streamline regulation, and incentivize productive use.
• Financing solutions-blended instruments, guarantees, and equity vehicles like IFC's Zafiri-that can unlock private capital at scale.
• And country-led National Energy Compacts Mission 300, which are already showing how cross-sector coordination can accelerate progress.
• When policy and finance move together, they make electrification not only possible, but bankable and investable.

Excellencies, this is where your leadership is decisive.

The energy transition in Africa cannot be siloed. It must be inter-ministerial and interdisciplinary. Energy ministries must work hand-in-hand with agriculture, finance, and health.

Because productive-use electrification is not just an energy agenda. It is a development agenda, a climate agenda, and a resilience agenda.

If you, as ministers, champion this integrated approach-if you align policies, pool resources, and coordinate action-you can make Mission 300 a transformative reality.

Let me close with this thought: Electricity in Africa should not be measured only in megawatts produced, but in meals preserved, jobs created, and lives saved.

This is the promise of productive-use energy. This is what Mission 300 can deliver.

With political will, bold leadership, and a commitment to scale what works, we can build an Africa that is not only powered-but resilient, inclusive, and thriving.

Thank you.