- South Africa is set to host Africa’s Green Economy Summit starting February 22, 2023, in Cape Town.
- The summit is part of the E-Fest Cape Town that will culminate in the Formula E 2023 Cape Town E-Prix race in the same week on Saturday, 25 February 2023.
- Africa’s Green Economy Summit will bring together stakeholders deliberating investment prospects in the green economy.
Cape Town is ready to host Africa’s Green Economy Summit that connects global capital and green economy projects starting February 22 to February 25, 2023.
The summit is part of the E-Fest Cape Town that will culminate in the Formula E 2023 Cape Town E-Prix race in the same week on Saturday, 25 February 2023.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said there is huge potential in the Western Cape’s green economy.
“The economy is bristling with opportunity even in the face of the enormity of the energy crisis,” said Winde. “While relentless load shedding is causing considerable harm to our economy, the Western Cape Government is taking decisive action to counter the impact.”
“Our province’s burgeoning renewable energy sector is being enabled by the Western Cape Government to find and jump on the opportunities to harness innovation in the green economy. We stand ready to confront this crisis head-on and to continue creating hope and optimism in our province.”
Melting pot of green energy ideas and opportunities
With some 80 speakers lined up over the 4-day summit, Africa’s Green Economy Summit will bring together financiers, project developers, and government representatives, highlighting investment prospects that exist across the continent in the fields of green hydrogen, EVs, energy storage, solar, hydro and wind energy, infrastructure development, urban sustainability as well as manufacturing.
Already home to a thriving green economy, Cape Town’s Executive Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the city is looking forward to welcoming the summit delegates and is ready to assist in creating opportunities to invest in this innovative space.
“We are positioning Cape Town as a leading city for energy security, not only in our country but in Africa. We are the first metro to pay cash for power directly from residents and businesses with approved solar PV installations. We are also buying power on the open market via a major 3-phase procurement. This includes renewables, dispatchable on-demand energy, battery storage, and an incentives programme for voluntary energy savings through remote switching-off of appliances.”
“We look forward to welcoming Africa and the world to this important summit—rest assured the City of Cape Town is ready to talk business about the green economy.”
The summit will also feature daily project pitches, by start-ups and developers in the e-mobility, infrastructure, manufacturing and renewable energy sectors in an interactive setting where they can meet industry leaders, policy makers, investors and financiers.
The president of the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), Nangula Uaandja, is part of the expert panel on “Accelerating green investment in Africa”, and the former Miss Universe for Namibia, Michelle McLean-Bailey, will add some glamour to Day 2 as the MC. Says Michelle: “As an ambassador for Namibia, on both the investment side and tourism side, the green hydrogen perspective and the concept that the government and private sector are putting a lot of backing into it, is that we want to see Namibia become the green hydrogen hub not only of Africa, but of the world.”
The latest leader in the African mobility space to become an official partner of the summit is Gautrain Management Agency, who has come on board as a platinum sponsor. Other headline sponsors already confirmed include ABB, the African Development Bank, Eskom, Nedbank CIB, Nissan and Uber. The City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Government, Wesgro, Atlantis Special Economic Zone and CSIR are also official event partners.
