TotalEnergies and BP, Equinor, and Shell each commit $500 mln for energy access
TotalEnergies BP Shell Equinor, oil and gas giants BP and Equinor, pledged to invest $500m on Friday in order to increase the availability of affordable energy, primarily for sub-Saharan Africa and south and southeast Asia.
The announcement was made at the United Nations COP29 Climate Summit in Azerbaijan where discussions have focused on raising $1 Trillion in climate finance to assist developing countries from richer nations.
TotalEnergies has declined to reveal the name of the global private equity firm that will manage the fund, but says the $500 million will be distributed over several years through tenders for energy-related projects.
This will include solar energy systems for domestic use, micro-electricity, energy production and distribution, transport, storage and logistics, emobility, and modern cooking fuels like liquefied propane gas (LPG), primarily in sub Saharan Africa and south and southeast Asia.
According to the International Energy Agency, more than 2.3 Billion people still cook on traditional stoves that burn wood, charcoal, and animal dung. This can lead to serious health issues.
Murray Auchincloss, BP's Chief Executive, said: "It's early days but we hope to be able, by investing together, to contribute to wider efforts in order to address the very real problem of energy access."
The companies did not reveal how much money each company pledged.
TotalEnergies has announced an investment of $400 million to develop LPG cooking fuel in Africa and India until 2030. (Reporting Sudip Kar Gupta. Clarence Fernandez, Mark Potter and Clarence Fernandez edited the report.
(source: Reuters)
