Africa Climate Summit Side Event: Roundtable on Fostering Investments in Green and Secure Data Infrastructure in Africa

This official side event of the Kenyan government is hosted by the Permanent Secretary, MoICT.

The main objective of the round is to bring together partner countries (Kenya, South Africa), the EU, Development Finance institutions (World Bank, EIB, AFDB) and international donors (BMZ, MFA Finland) to discuss opportunities, mechanisms, and challenges on how to accelerate investments into sustainable and secure data and digital infrastructure in Africa bases on the European Union’s Global Gateway Strategy. A specific objective is to seek alignment amongst key stakeholders such as African governments, public and private project promoters, and Development Finance Institutions to foster impact-driven investments in trusted and sustainable data and digital infrastructure in Africa.

The panel will address these key issues:

• What are the main reasons for the current underinvestment in sustainable digital infrastructure like data centres in the Africa region?
• What role do government regulations and incentives play in boosting investments into green and secure data infrastructure to support local economic and social development?
• What opportunities and risks do green and secure data centres offer for sustainable development and technology adoption in Africa?
• How can International and European Development Finance Institutions collaborate on co-investment programs that share risks and pool funding for achieving increased impact?
• How can the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) and other financing mechanisms be leveraged to attract private investments for green and secure data centre projects?
• What steps can enhance the access to finance for infrastructure promoters in the region?
• How can African partners leverage technical cooperation with international partners?
• How shall capacity building initiatives be designed to support the growth of local stakeholders and a workforce with expertise in green and secure data centre regulations and technologies?

Moderation: Thelma Quaye, Director of Digital Infrastructure, Smart Africa

Speakers: Dr. Heike Hamgart, Managing Director EBRD, Pasi Hellman, Under-Secretary of State, MFA Finland, Wendy Hughes, Senior Regional Director, Infrastructure Department, Africa World Bank, Carla Montesi, Director, Twin Transition, DG INTPA, John Tanui Permanent Secretary, MoICT, Kenya, Nicolas Williams, Director Digital Infrastructure, AFDB, Christian Elias, Head of Unit Public Sector, East Africa and Southern Africa EIB, Philipp Knill, BMZ