
<p>KEY POINTS</p>



<ul><li>A document outlining the European Commission’s aims for the REPowerEU plan was published on Wednesday.</li><li>It highlighted the importance of energy savings, the diversification of energy imports and speeding up what it called “Europe’s clean energy transition.”</li><li>The EU’s desire to wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons means it will need to find oil and gas from other parts of the world to plug supply gaps.</li></ul>



<p>The European Commission has fleshed out details of a plan to ramp up the EU’s renewable energy capacity and reduce its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, at the same time acknowledging that existing coal facilities may have to be used for “longer than initially expected.”</p>



<p>A document outlining the Commission’s aims for the REPowerEU plan was published on Wednesday, highlighting the importance of energy savings, the diversification of energy imports and speeding up what it called “Europe’s clean energy transition.”</p>



<p>In total, it envisages extra investment of 210 billion euros ($220.87 billion) between 2022 and 2027. When it comes to renewables’ share in the EU’s energy mix, the Commission has proposed that the current target of 40% by 2030 should be increased to 45%.</p>



<p>The Commission’s proposals came on the same day the governments of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium said they would aim for a combined target of at least 65 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030. By the middle of the century, they are aiming for 150 GW of capacity.</p>



<p>On the fossil fuel front, the situation is a challenging one. Russia was the biggest supplier of both petroleum oils and natural gas to the EU last year,&nbsp;<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=EU_imports_of_energy_products_-_recent_developments#:~:text=Russia%20was%20the%20largest%20supplier,and%2C%20at%20some%20distance%20Algeria" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to Eurostat</a>.</p>



<p>The EU’s desire to wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons&nbsp;following the latter’s invasion of Ukraine&nbsp;means it will need to find oil and gas from other parts of the world to plug supply gaps.</p>



<p>The Commission said as much as 1.5 to 2 billion euros of investment would be needed to secure oil supply. To import enough liquefied natural gas and pipeline gas from other sources, an estimated 10 billion euros will be needed by 2030.</p>



<p>All the above comes at a time when the EU has said it wants to be carbon neutral by 2050. In the medium term, it wants net greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by at least 55% by 2030, which the EU calls its “Fit for 55” plan.</p>



<p>The Commission said REPowerEU could not work without what it called “a fast implementation of all Fit for 55 proposals and higher targets for renewables and energy efficiency.”</p>



<p>In this new reality, gas consumption in the EU would “reduce at a faster pace, limiting the role of gas as a transitional fuel,” the Commission said.</p>



<p>“However, shifting away from Russian fossil fuels will also require targeted investments for security of supply in gas infrastructure and very limited changes to oil infrastructure alongside large-scale investments in the electricity grid and an EU-wide hydrogen backbone,” it added.</p>



<p>“In parallel, some of the existing coal capacities might also be used longer than initially expected, with a role for nuclear power and domestic gas resources too,” the Commission said.</p>



<p>During a press conference on Wednesday the EU’s climate chief, Frans Timmermans, admitted that using less natural gas in a transitional phase would mean “you might use coal a bit longer — that has a negative impact on your emissions.”</p>



<p>“But if at the same time, as we propose, you rapidly speed up the introduction of renewables — solar, wind, biomethane — you then have the opposite movement,” he said.</p>



<p>Timmermans, who is the European Commission’s executive vice president for the European Green Deal, went on to stress the importance of finding a middle ground.</p>



<p>“If we can actually do what I say — reduce our energy consumption in combination with a speedier introduction of renewables — we will bring down our emissions even quicker than before,” he said.</p>



<p>“And then, of course we will have slightly higher emissions if people stick a bit longer to coal, but we need to strike the balance so that, on balance, we do not increase our emissions — we hopefully even decrease them more.”</p>



<p>Coal has a substantial effect on the environment, with Greenpeace describing it as “the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy.”</p>



<p>Elsewhere, the U.S. Energy Information Administration lists a range of emissions from coal combustion, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides.</p>



<p>The European Commission announcement drew criticism from a number of environmental organizations.</p>



<p>“These plans are supposed to fast-track the clean energy transition — but the European Commission’s latest strategy gives with one hand and takes with the other,” Eilidh Robb, an anti-fossil fuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, said.</p>



<p>“So-called REPowerEU contains useful and necessary strides towards renewable solutions but it simultaneously enables almost 50 fossil fuel infrastructure projects and expansions,” Robb said.</p>


6P3A4A5Y3FPCBIXZTKFUXZLSHM

Europe admits it’ll have to burn more coal as it tries to wean itself off Russian energy

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<p>A recent report by the International Finance Corporation in partnership with the European Commission an data from e-commerce platform Jumia shows that by closing the gender gaps by 2025, Africa’s e-commerce sector could add nearly 15 billion dollars to the total value of the sector in Africa by 2030. Juliet Anammah Chairwoman Jumia Nigeria and Head of Institutional Affairs at the Jumia Group joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Report: Africa’s e-commerce could add $15bn if gender gaps close between 2025-2030

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<p>This week the HEVA Fund announced a call for applications for their latest investment into the region’s creative sector. In partnership with the European Commission and the French Agency of Development, the organisation is looking to inject an additional $380,000 into creative businesses in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. CNBC Africa spoke to the Programs and Strategy Lead at Heva Fund, Dr Njoki Ngumi for more.</p>


HEVA to invest $380k into East Africa’s creative sector


<p>Given the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, Africa could be facing an economic crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Although the peak of the epidemic has not yet hit the continent, all economic indicators are currently flashing red as a result of preventive measures such as lockdowns and national border closures across most of the continent.</p>



<p>Why should we be so concerned with what is happening across the Mediterranean? Because if the growth dynamic recorded in Africa over the past several decades stalls, it is Europe that will suffer the consequences in a later stage. Everything that has been undertaken with the help of development aid and the setting up of structuring partnerships at the economic level as well as at the health and education levels is at risk of being reduced to nothing. For example, more than 8 million children have been enrolled in primary and more than 160,000 in secondary education in Africa as a result of EU-funded interventions in 2013-2014. This ambitious partnership needs to continue on an ever-stronger footing. Needless to also say that a new wave of migration would also have an impact on our societies: the looming economic crisis would be coupled with a real political crisis that would undoubtedly give populist parties the upper hand in the next elections.</p>



<p>As European politicians, Africa is one of our priorities. Sceptics need only remember the first trip made by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; her first official trip, just a week after taking office, was to Addis Ababa, to the African Union&#8217;s headquarters. Two months later she went back, along with 20 of the 27 European Commissioners, a sign that Africa and the EU have a real “common destiny” and an ambitious partnership to rebuild.</p>



<p>We need to think, and fast, about how we can help our African partner in the race against time as it faces the predicted economic disaster in the wake of the global covid-19 pandemic. Let&#8217;s ask ourselves the right questions: what works in Africa, what are the factors for development and growth? One is undoubtedly Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), since Africa had more than 400 million Internet users in 2018 – that’s 20% more than in 2017. Mobile phones are the preferred means of accessing the Internet (used three times more than computers) and the United Nations estimates that mobile phone operators are major job creators today. Before the crisis, it was predicted that the mobile phone industry would generate 7.9% of GDP and create 3.45 million jobs in sub-Saharan Africa by 2022.</p>



<p>As Co-Chair and Vice-Chair of the soon to be established RUMRA &amp; Smart Villages Intergroup in the European Parliament, we know how important access to a good Internet connection is as a factor for growth. The intergroup aims to “promote the integrated development of European territories in all their diversity”. And what is true for Europe is all the more true for Africa! ICTs facilitate access to education, they contribute to increasing business productivity, and they represent real added value in the agricultural sector, for example by giving family farmers access to targeted information on techniques to improve their yields.</p>



<p>In light of these facts, there is an urgent need to support the companies operating in the ICT sector that are working on providing Internet access and deploying fibre optics on the African continent, such as Vodafone, Orange, or Huawei Northern Africa. Huawei for instance provides 200,000 kilometers of optical fibre network coverage on the African continent, and owns 50% of the 3G and 4G networks. Orange invests 1 billion euros every year in network development in Africa and Vodafone now has more than 170 million mobile customers across eight African countries, with 4G networks launched in many African markets. These groups are engines of growth and potential solutions to the impending crisis. In this process we need to make sure not to single out any of these companies for geo-strategic considerations that should have no place in our economic considerations. As free marketeers our decisions need to be based solely on merit and the ability of any given company to provide the ICT solutions needed.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Without complicity, without naivety, we have to think about what will impact us positively in the short, medium and long term. Our fear is that our reluctance to move towards greater connectivity will impact our economies, and those of our neighbors, and Africa first and foremost. So let&#8217;s be responsible, let&#8217;s be political, and let&#8217;s take responsibility for our choices. ICTs are one of the ways out of the crisis caused by Covid-19, so let&#8217;s not deprive anyone, and especially not Africa!</p>



<p><strong>Franc Bogovic</strong>, Member of the European Parliament from Slovenia in the centre right group of the European People&#8217;s Party &amp;</p>



<p><strong>Engin Eroglu</strong>, Member of the European Parliament from Germany in the liberal Renew Europe Group</p>



<p>For more coverage on COVID-19 visit: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/</a></p>


Op-Ed: Supporting the ICT sector in Africa as a cure for the economic crisis


<p><strong>Key Points</strong></p>



<ul><li>Over the last 48 hours, three biotech companies, in particular, have been thrust into the spotlight for their promise: BioNTech, CureVac and Moderna.</li></ul>



<ul><li>All three of these firms specialize in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics.</li></ul>



<ul><li>These mRNA molecules are used to instruct the body to produce its own immune response to fight a range of different diseases.</li></ul>



<p>The race is on to develop an immunization against COVID-19.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Dozens of companies and public labs around the world are working to develop a vaccine to prevent the spread of the flu-like virus. Over the last 48 hours, three biotech companies, in particular, have been thrust into the spotlight for their promise: BioNTech, CureVac and Moderna.</p>



<p>All three of these firms specialize in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics. These mRNA molecules are used to instruct the body to produce its own immune response to fight a range of different diseases. This type of vaccine can potentially be developed and produced more quickly than traditional vaccines.</p>



<p>Moderna is a Massachusetts-based biotech company working with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). It kicked off its first trial Monday in Seattle, Washington.&nbsp;</p>



<p>This is called a “phase one” study and is being conducted by the NIH. Moderna is also preparing for a potential “phase two” study that it would conduct itself. Moderna shares rose 27% in Monday’s trading session.</p>



<p>BioNTech, meanwhile, is a German biotech company which recently announced two strategic partnerships to advance development of a vaccine. It formed a collaboration with Fosun Pharma to advance efforts in China, and with Pfizer to do the same outside China.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Berenberg bank analysts say they are impressed with the company’s efforts to rapidly enter into an alliance with a top pharma company in China and they view it as an important validation of BioNTech’s mRNA technology platform.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“BioNTech appears best positioned in the COVID-19 race owing to its diversified mRNA platform, delivery information and manufacturing capacity,” Berenberg said in a research note.</p>



<p>CureVac is an unlisted German company which aims to start testing an experimental vaccine on humans this summer. After reportedly getting caught in the political crossfire between Germany and the U.S., the European Commission pledged 80 billion euros of financial support to help them get a product out in Europe.&nbsp;</p>



<p>On Monday, CureVac noted it “is working on expanding its manufacturing capacities to be able to provide up to billions of doses for outbreak situations like Covid-19.”</p>



<p>As evidenced by these companies, partnerships are key to developing and manufacturing vaccines for the public. Both public-private partnerships as well as partnerships between the traditional pharmaceutical giants and smaller biotech players can be critical to getting these vaccines from trial to market.&nbsp;</p>



<p>However, the jury is still out on what type of therapeutic approach will work best. Barclays pharmaceutical research team noted that while mRNA vaccines remain unproven, they are likely to dominate the shorter-term headlines given faster development timelines and rapid early progress.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Ultimately, the Barclays team believes these novel vaccines are likely to be superseded by more conventional approaches over time.</p>



<p>(Report by Julianna Tatelbaum)</p>



<p>This article was first published on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/17/hopes-of-a-coronavirus-vaccine-mount-as-three-key-biotech-players-make-progress.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/17/hopes-of-a-coronavirus-vaccine-mount-as-three-key-biotech-players-make-progress.html</a> and is republished with its permission.</p>


Hopes of a coronavirus vaccine mount as three key biotech players make progress

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<p>The European Commission alongside the One Young World organization brought the most impactful peacebuilders under the age of 30 to Kigali for their first caucus of the year. The focus of the event was to reflect on the post-genocide experience and draw from the expertise of the nation to look toward the future. One of the young leaders involved is One Young World Peace Ambassador, Hyppolite Ntigurirwa, joins CNBC Africa to discuss the event and his efforts towards a more peaceful society.</p>


A Young Peace Ambassador speaks on ‘achieving a peaceful society’

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<p>One Young World alongside the European Commission brings together young leaders from every country and sector, working to accelerate social impact. The initiative was launched in 2017 and this year it organized the first caucus under the theme “United Futures: Lessons from Rwanda”. CNBC Africa spoke to Nicola Bellomo, EU ambassador to Rwanda for more on this.</p>


OYW and European Commission host first peacebuilding caucus in Rwanda

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<p>The European Commission has added Nigeria Saudi Arabia and four U.S territories to a blacklist of nations that pose a threat owing to insufficient controls on terrorism financing and money laundering. Winston Osuchukwu, Co-Founder Trans-Sahara Incorporated joins CNBC Africa to discuss Nigeria’s Anti-Laundering strategy.</p>


Nigeria added to EU’s dirty money blacklist

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<p>Leaders in the private and public sectors are attending the high level 5th Edition of the South Africa Italy Summit in Sandton today, proceedings will resume tomorrow. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Jill de Villiers spoke to Gauteng Finance MEC Barbara Creecy about strengthening South Africa –Italy trade ties.</p>


Gauteng’s Barbara Creecy on strengthening SA –Italy trade ties

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<p>Leaders in the private and public sectors are attending the high level 5th Edition of the South Africa Italy Summit in Sandton today, proceedings will resume tomorrow. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Jill de Villiers attended this bilateral conference and spoke to Stefano Manservisi, DG of international Cooperation and Dev, European Commission.</p>


Stefano Manservisi on boosting European investment in Africa

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<p>Robert-Jan Smits is the Director-General of Research and Innovation at the European Commission, and handles one of the world’s largest science and innovation programmes in the world, with a budget of 80 billion euros.</p>


European Commission aims to map the Ocean floor

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<p>CNBC Africa’s caught up with Robert Ridolfi, Director General, Sustainable Growth and Development at the European Commission to get an update on the external investment plan.</p>


European Commission’s Robert Ridolfi gives update on the external Investment plan

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<p>The External Investment Plan aims to encourage investment into partner countries in Africa and the EU, in a bid to leverage over 44 billion Euros of investments by 2020.</p>


External Investment Plan aims to boost investment in Africa and the EU

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">(Abidjan) </span><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">An effort that hopes to draw billions in investment in Africa from Europe wrapped up at the Palace of Culture in Abidjan this week. In many ways, there couldn’t have been a better place for talk of a free market drive to revive the economies of Africa.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">For Cote D’Ivoire, for all its economic difficulties, scarce capital and heavy taxes, has a claim to being an economic phoenix rising from the ashes of a violent civil war. Ever since the Ivorian army marched back to its barracks, in 2011, the country has seen signs of an economic revival akin to that of post-Genocide Rwanda and post-war Singapore. In fewer than seven years of peace, Cote D’Ívoire has thrown its doors open to foreign investors on its way to a growth rate of more than 8%, albeit from a very low base. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">The European Union-Africa Forum, in Abidjan this week, was here to discuss an ambitious plan to help unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of Africa to create jobs and wealth. The EU is pushing a plan to prise investment out of a tight European financial market – especially from the big pension funds – to plough into entrepreneurs with emphasis on women and the youth.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">The plan revolves around a fund of around $4 billion. The EU hopes to leverage this money up to around $44 billion by encouraging powerful financial institutions and pension funds in Europe to get behind it in the hope of high returns. In achieving this, around $1.5 billion of this money will be used as investment guarantees to take the risk out for foreign investors.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">“It is done. We passed everything through our legislators in September and you will see the first projects taking shape next year,” says Roberto Ridolfi, in Abidjan, one of the technocrats at the EU who helped guide the plan.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">At the conference, young entrepreneurs were given the chance to pitch their ideas to earn the chance of a sliver of the seed capital.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">Academic and director general of DEVCO at the European Commission, Stefano Manservisi, is an expert on international and economic integration. He says the EC is in discussions with African nations in a bid to ease the flow of goods and services across borders to encourage investment.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">One of the areas that the EU scheme is targeting is technology. I put it to Manservisi that these kinds of investments do not create many jobs in a content that needs about 20 million in the next 20 years.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">“You have to remember that Facebook was created in a garage. There are many garages in Africa and people can create wealth and jobs in them if they are given the support and capital,” says Manservisi.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">There are also reservations among African leaders about a lack of consultation over plans in this effort to create jobs. People on the ground in Abidjan question whether the benefits will trickle down to the millions living in poverty.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 9.75pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;">In a year when thousands of Africans died trying to flee this poverty – heading for Europe on leaky boats across the Mediterranean &#8211; the EU admits this investment effort may not be a quick fix, but at the very least it is a start.</span></p>


Billions to be spent unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit of Africa

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<p>Lord Peter Hain wrote another letter thanking the Chancellor for ensuring UK authorities investigate HSBC, Standard Chartered Banks, and Baroda Bank for the corrupt proceeds of money stolen from the South African taxpayers.</p>


Lord Peter Hain on the Gupta money trail, sate capture probe

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<p>The names of 27 people including South African President Jacob Zuma, members of the controversial Gupta family and some of Zuma&#8217;s relatives including his ex-wife appear on a list sent to British financial authorities and the European Commission, will the HAWKS investigate?</p>


Fallout over SA list of shame

<p>EU antitrust regulators will investigate whether Aspen Pharmacare is charging excessive prices for five key cancer drugs in a move which could lead to a hefty fine for Africa&#8217;s largest generic drugmaker.</p>
<p>The European Commission said on Monday that it was looking into information that Aspen has imposed hefty and unjustified price increases of up to several hundred percent, and has withdrawn the drugs in some EU countries or threatened to do so in others.</p>
<p>Aspen acquired the medicines after their patent protection had expired. Its shares extended losses on news of the EU probe and were down 2.3 percent at 279.05 rand by 1020 GMT (6.20 a.m. ET).</p>
<p>The EU competition enforcer said the probe will focus on niche medicines containing the active pharmaceutical ingredients chlorambucil, melphalan, mercaptopurine, tioguanine and busulfan for treating cancer such as hematologic tumors.</p>
<p>&#8220;Companies should be rewarded for producing these pharmaceuticals to ensure that they keep making them into the future. But when the price of a drug suddenly goes up by several hundred percent, this is something the Commission may look at,&#8221; European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.</p>
<p>The investigation will cover all of Europe except Italy, which hit the company with a five-million-euro fine in October last year for price hikes up to 1,500 percent for some key drugs.</p>
<p>The EU enforcer can fine companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover for breaching the bloc&#8217;s antitrust rules. It handed down multi-million euro penalties to a number of drugmakers in recent years for various offences.</p>
<p>Aspen, based in the South African city of Durban, has expanded overseas to benefit from the expiry of patents on best-selling drugs, fuelling a more than nine-fold increase in its share price since early 2008.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Louise Heavens)</p>


European Commission

Europe admits it’ll have to burn more coal as it tries to wean itself off Russian energy

Report: Africa’s e-commerce could add $15bn if gender gaps close between 2025-2030

HEVA to invest $380k into East Africa’s creative sector

Op-Ed: Supporting the ICT sector in Africa as a cure for the economic crisis

Hopes of a coronavirus vaccine mount as three key biotech players make progress

A Young Peace Ambassador speaks on ‘achieving a peaceful society’

OYW and European Commission host first peacebuilding caucus in Rwanda

Nigeria added to EU’s dirty money blacklist

Gauteng’s Barbara Creecy on strengthening SA –Italy trade ties

Stefano Manservisi on boosting European investment in Africa

European Commission aims to map the Ocean floor

European Commission’s Robert Ridolfi gives update on the external Investment plan

External Investment Plan aims to boost investment in Africa and the EU

Billions to be spent unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit of Africa

Lord Peter Hain on the Gupta money trail, sate capture probe

Fallout over SA list of shame

Aspen under EU antitrust spotlight over excessive cancer drug prices

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European Commission

Europe admits it’ll have to burn more coal as it tries to wean itself off Russian energy

Report: Africa’s e-commerce could add $15bn if gender gaps close between 2025-2030

HEVA to invest $380k into East Africa’s creative sector

Op-Ed: Supporting the ICT sector in Africa as a cure for the economic crisis

Hopes of a coronavirus vaccine mount as three key biotech players make progress

A Young Peace Ambassador speaks on ‘achieving a peaceful society’

OYW and European Commission host first peacebuilding caucus in Rwanda

Nigeria added to EU’s dirty money blacklist

Gauteng’s Barbara Creecy on strengthening SA –Italy trade ties

Stefano Manservisi on boosting European investment in Africa

European Commission aims to map the Ocean floor

European Commission’s Robert Ridolfi gives update on the external Investment plan

External Investment Plan aims to boost investment in Africa and the EU

Billions to be spent unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit of Africa

Lord Peter Hain on the Gupta money trail, sate capture probe

Fallout over SA list of shame

Aspen under EU antitrust spotlight over excessive cancer drug prices

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