While Africa certainly has contributed least to the current climate challenges, the continent is expected to feel the ramifications ―first and worst. While this obviously poses yet another threat to recent gains made on development, there are untapped opportunities for partnering with Africa to stem further declines.
Africa‘s vast rainforests and natural resources could be invested in through re-forestation and agro-forestry programs to provide sustainable livelihoods and carbon storage/sequestration. Africa has large potential for solar, geothermal and even biomass energy production that is largely underutilised. For example, United Nation‘s Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) estimates that only 7% of hydroelectricity and less than 1% of geothermal potentials on the continent have been exploited. As technologies develop, these renewable energy sources available in Africa could be harnessed for regional use and export.

Africa as an energy resource:
In addition to the renewable mentioned above, there are untapped natural resources in Africa that can be leveraged for energy. According to John Ghazvinian‘s book ‗Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil‘, one-third of the world's new oil discoveries since the year 2000 have taken place in Africa and between 2005 and 2010, 20% of the world's new production capacity is expected to come from Africa. The key challenge is to ensure that these energy resources are managed in a way that harness sustainable economic development at the individual country and regional levels and give due diligence to environmental concerns.

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POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE G20