The African Energy Chamber (AEC), the voice of the African energy industry, has called for increased transparency and good governance within the sector at its meeting with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) at the EITI International Secretariat in Oslo.
With over 600 million Africans without access to electricity and 900 million without access to clean cooking fuels, new investments in hydrocarbons, renewables, nuclear and hydrogen are needed.
According to the Chamber, more transparency in the sector is needed to attract even more investment into the sector.
Implemented in 52 countries, including 24 in Africa, the EITI serves as a global standard for responsible governance of the oil, gas and mining sectors. The initiative aims to strengthen key transparency and accountability issues in public and corporate governance by requiring disclosure of information along the entire extractive industry value chain, from how revenues flow through government to how they benefit the public.
For African oil and gas producers, membership enables countries to be more competitive for global investment by building investor confidence and demonstrating a government-led commitment to the sustainable development of the energy and mining sector.
The ACS aims to facilitate the sharing of best practices and knowledge transfer to African companies and the private sector on transparency, compliance and good governance.
ACS Senior Vice President Verner Ayukegba said: "Adopting similar standards, measures and transparency systems to those of the EITI would be helpful to our members and to African companies across the continent, so that they can not only adhere to ESG guidelines, but also compete on international stock markets and attract foreign lenders. Norway and the EITI have done a lot of good work in working closely and engaging with civil society in the extractive industries. African energy actors can and should learn from this.
The meeting follows the Glencore corruption scandal, in which Glencore International AG (a Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company) and its subsidiaries were found guilty of corruption, bribery and illicit profits in several countries, including Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and South Sudan.
The ACS spoke out on the need for African governments and industry to publicly condemn Glencore's actions and hold its management to account, including cancelling its membership of the EITI.