"Africa needs cash, science for new model of green development - leaders", 14 March 2019

African countries must tackle climate change with a new economic model rooted in clean energy, forest protection and technology to support farmers - but they will need more investment and research to make that happen, leaders said on Thursday. French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted the "One Planet" climate summit in Nairobi, highlighted the example of West Africa's Solar Mamas...Africa cannot repeat the mistakes of the past made by industrialised nations that grew rich using power produced by burning dirty fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, he added. "For me, the key to African emancipation is how we construct a new model" that aims to build a sustainable future for all, Macron told heads of governments, corporations, development banks and others gathered in the Kenyan capital...

The World Bank Group's interim president, Kristalina Georgieva, said Africa had "the most incredible opportunity" to move onto a path of low-carbon economic growth. It still produces only 1.5 percent of its electricity from solar power, compared with 7 percent in Germany...Africa, while responsible for just 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, is struggling with the impacts of climate change...the World Bank Group plans to spend at least $12 billion in Africa from 2021-2025 to support adaptation and resilience projects, its officials said...

Those aims were being supported by a $15-million partnership between her network, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the BNP Paribas Foundation and France to provide fellowships for 600 young scientists in Africa and Europe to work on climate change, she said...