In the wake of seismic shifts in the European energy landscape, the Invest in African Energy (IAE) 2026 Forum in Paris will host a Ministerial Dialogue on “Unlocking Africa’s Gas Supply for Global Energy Security.” This strategic session will examine how Africa can turn its untapped gas reserves into a reliable and sustainable source of supply. With Europe seeking to diversify away from Russian gas, the dialogue highlights both the continent’s growing role in global energy markets and the opportunity for African producers to attract long-term investment. Recent developments underscore the urgency of Africa’s role in global energy security. Last month, EU countries agreed to phase out their remaining Russian gas imports, with existing contracts benefiting from a transition period: short-term contracts can continue until June 2026, while long-term contracts will run until January 2028. In parallel, the European Commission is pushing to end Russian LNG imports by January 2027 under a broader sanctions package aimed at limiting Moscow’s energy revenues.

Africa’s role in this rebalancing is already gaining momentum. Algeria recently renewed its gas supply agreement with ČEZ Group, ensuring continued deliveries to the Czech Republic. In Libya, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) has approved new compressors at the Bahr Essalam field to boost output and reinforce flows via the Greenstream pipeline to Italy. These developments complement the Structures A&E offshore project – led by Eni and the NOC – which is expected to bring two platforms online by 2026 and produce up to 750 million cubic feet per day, supporting both domestic and European demand. West Africa is pursuing ambitious export routes as well.

Nigeria, Algeria and Niger have revived the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP), with engineering firm Penspen commissioned earlier this year to revalidate its feasibility. The proposed $25 billion Nigeria–Morocco pipeline is also advancing as a long-term corridor linking West African gas to European markets. Meanwhile, the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) project off Mauritania and Senegal came online earlier this year, with its first phase targeting 2.3 million tons of LNG annually. In June, the project delivered its third cargo to Belgium’s Zeebrugge terminal, marking the first African LNG shipment from GTA to Europe. Together, these milestones underscore a strategic convergence: African producers are accelerating efforts to scale up exports just as Europe intensifies its search for reliable alternatives to Russian gas.

Yet, as the ministerial session will explore, unlocking Africa’s gas supply demands sustained investment, regulatory alignment, environmental management and community engagement. For Europe, diversification of supply is a strategic necessity; for African producers, it is an opportunity to accelerate development, build infrastructure and secure long-term capital. At IAE 2026, these shifts will be examined by the officials and stakeholders driving them. The Ministerial Dialogue brings African energy leaders together with European policymakers, industry players and investors in a setting that supports practical, solution-focused discussion on supply, export strategies and future cooperation. As Europe adapts its gas strategy and African producers progress major projects, the Forum provides a direct platform for ministers to outline priorities and for investors to engage with key decision-makers.

Multilateral development banks have reaffirmed their commitment to climate finance, pledging to scale up innovative funding to boost climate adaptation and resilience. “Financing climate resilience is not a cost, but an investment.” This was the key message from senior MDB officials at the end of a side event organised by the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) on the opening day of the 30th United Nations Climate Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil.

The conference runs from 10 to 21 November. During a panel discussion titled “Accelerating large-scale climate change adaptation,” MDB representatives, including the African Development Bank Group, outlined how their institutions are fulfilling Paris Agreement commitments by mobilising substantial and innovative resources for climate adaptation and mitigation. Ilan Goldfajn, President of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, emphasised that “resilience is more than a concern for the future: it is also essential for development today.” He announced that MDBs are tripling their financing for resilience over the next decade, targeting $42 billion by 2030.

“At the Inter-American Development Bank, we are turning preparedness into protection and resilience into opportunity,” Goldfajn added. Tanja Faller, Director of Technical Evaluation and Monitoring at the Council of Europe Development Bank, stressed that climate change “not only creates new threats, but also amplifies existing inequalities. The most socially vulnerable people are the hardest hit and the last to recover. This is how a climate crisis also becomes a social crisis.” Representatives from the Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank Group, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,  the European Investment Bank, the New Development Bank and IDB Invest (the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank Group) also shared concrete examples of successful adaptation investments and strategies for mobilising new resources.

Kevin Kariuki, Vice President of the African Development Bank Group in charge of Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, presented the Bank’s leadership in advancing climate adaptation and mitigation. “At the African Development Bank, we understand the priorities of our countries: adaptation and mitigation are at the heart of our climate interventions.” He highlighted the creation of the Climate Action Window, a new financing mechanism under the African Development Fund, the Bank Group’s concessional window for low-income countries.

“The African Development Bank is the only multilateral development bank with a portfolio of adaptation projects ready for investment through the Climate Action Window,” Kariuki noted, adding that Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are among key co-financing partners. Kariuki also showcased the Bank’s YouthADAPT programme, which has invested $5.4 million in 41 youth-led enterprises across 20 African countries, generating more than 10,000 jobs — 61 percent of which are led by women, and mobilising an additional $7 million in private and donor funding.

Representatives from Zambia, Mozambique and Jamaica also shared local perspectives on the financing needs of communities most exposed to climate risk. The panel followed the official opening of COP30, marked by a passionate appeal from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for greater climate investment to prevent a “tragedy for humanity.”

“Without the Paris Agreement, we would see a 4–5°C increase in global temperatures,” Lula warned. “Our call to action is based on three pillars: honouring commitments; accelerating public action with a roadmap enabling humanity to move away from fossil fuels and deforestation; and placing humanity at the heart of the climate action programme: thousands of people are living in poverty and deprivation as a result of climate change. The climate emergency is a crisis of inequality,” he continued.

“We must build a future that is not doomed to tragedy. We must ensure that we live in a world where we can still dream.” Outgoing COP President Mukhtar Babayevn, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology, urged developed nations to fulfil their promises made at the Baku Conference, including commitments to mobilise $300 billion in climate finance. He called for stronger political will and multilateral cooperation, before handing over the COP presidency to Brazilian diplomat André Corrêa do Lago, who now leads the negotiations.

By NJ Ayuk
In an opinion piece for The Guardian Fiona Harvey and Matthew Taylor wrote that it was time for gas exploration in Africa to stop. “Africa must embrace renewable energy and forgo exploration of its potentially lucrative gas deposits to stave off climate disaster and bring access to clean energy to the hundreds of millions who lack it, leading experts on the continent have said,” they wrote. This is hardly new.

For several years now, wealthy nations and their environmental organizations have been strong-arming African countries to leave their petroleum assets in the ground. The stance of the African Energy Chamber has been consistent: Yes, African oil and gas-producing countries should and will do their part to support global emissions-reduction goals. Yes, the dangers of climate change should be taken seriously. However, we refuse to let the world set the timing for when Africa will ease up on oil and gas exploration and production.

We are convinced that oil and gas production, when managed strategically, provides a pathway for economic growth and energy security, and we are determined to help Africa realize those benefits. This is the message that we urge every African leader to take to COP30 in Brazil: African countries have to produce every drop of hydrocarbons they can fine and they have every right to set the timing for their energy transitions. And like nations around the world, African states will be exercising those rights.

Africa’s Miniscule Contribution
The world must understand that African countries cannot be on the same energy transition timeline as Western countries. Africa still needs time – time that the Western world has already had and, frankly continues to milk – to resolve energy poverty and industrialize. Let’s first address the proverbial elephant in the room: When it comes to global emissions, Africa is NOT the problem. In 2023, global CO2 emissions hit 37.12 billion tonnes. China ranked first in contributing 11.47 billion tonnes; the entire continent of Africa contributed 1.45 billion tonnes, only 4% of global carbon emissions. In fact, over the last two decades, Africa’s total contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions has never been above 4% — by far the smallest share in all the world.

Africa has the lowest per-capital emissions of all continents, averaging 1 tonne of CO2 emitted annually by each individual. The average American emits as much CO2 in one month as the average African does in an entire year. And yet, Africa is disproportionately being punished for the climate catastrophe that, let’s be honest, it was initiated and is perpetuated by Western and developed economies. “The story of Africa or the developing world is not really an energy transition story, it’s a development story,” Andrew Kamau with the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University said in a recent interview with Energy Intelligence. You hear a lot about all these technologies that are being developed, but where are they at scale?” Kamau asked. “And has somebody industrialized using wind and solar only? I don’t know. We wait to see if it’s possible.”

Kamau also questioned where all the international funding is. The West has made grand financial promises, but the level of support truly needed to undertake a transition to renewables at the pace dictated by the West has yet to materialize.

Using the resources at our feet
While we at the African Energy Chamber agree that it’s important to develop affordable and sustainable green technologies to supply our energy, we strongly disagree with being pigeonholed into accepting the West’s one-size-fits-all timeline. I hear from Africans who are skeptical about the benefits of oil and gas because they have seen the problems caused by the energy sector.

You could make the same arguments about the Internet, which has been blamed for harming social relationships, decreasing our safety and security, and damaging children’s cognitive development. Yet, used wisely, the Internet does considerable good as well, and I’m not hearing widespread calls to get rid of it. My point is, oil and gas can and does do good (I’ve written whole books on the subject!) — the key is to be smart about how we capitalize on our resources. Some 600 million people on the continent still lack adequate electricity access or even clean cooking technologies.

These Africans aren’t focuse d on the fact that reliable energy infrastructure facilitates economic growth by generating jobs, increasing productivity, and reducing the cost of doing business. Most would be elated to have light in their homes after dark or the ability to refrigerate their food.

But think about Africa’s abundant energy potential!
By 2050, the continent will be home to 11% of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) market and the second-highest growth supply of gas. By tapping into the vast stores of natural gas at our feet, we can first work to eradicate energy poverty from the continent, and then secure our economic growth as we transition toward renewables. I agree with Mohamed Hamel, the Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, in his description of the argument that Africa should not develop its natural gas resources as “misguided.” “A prosperous Africa will be more capable to protect its environment. The right of Africa to develop its vast natural resources can be preserved, and its access to finance and technology, facilitated,” Hamel said.

Turning the Pressure into Partnership
At the previous COP, I made it clear that, while African nations would not be continuing oil and gas operations indefinitely, with no movement toward renewable energy sources, we Africans should be setting the timetable for Africa’s transition. “What I’d like to see instead of Western pressure to bring African oil and gas activities to an abrupt halt, is a cooperative effort,” I wrote at the time. “Partnerships, relationships rooted in respect, open communications and empathy.

What does that look like? It begins with the belief that when African leaders, businesses, and organizations say the timing is not right to end our fossil fuel operations, we have a point. That when we are discussing our own countries, we know what we are talking about.” Clearly, we still have progress to make. Too many outsiders suggest that African leaders are being manipulated or influenced by greed when they work to foster oil and gas exploration and production in their countries. Few seem to believe that, when countries establish and fine-tune local content laws, adapt investor-friendly fiscal regimes, and promote policy that protects human dignity, they are making reasoned, strategic moves to create better futures for their people. That saddens me, but it also strengthens my resolve.
We will continue to fight for what’s right, for what’s ours. We are not giving up on a just energy transition for Africa — a transition on a timetable that benefits and uplifts Africans.

NJ Ayuk is the Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber