By Angela Symons with AP Published on 16/03/2026 - 14:02 GMT+1 Share Comments Gulf oil money is flowing into African renewables – and the Iran war is only accelerating the trend.
Investors made wealthy by the Middle East’s abundant oil and gas increasingly are turning to Africa’s clean energy sector. They are attracted by rising electricity demand, rapid urbanisation and the continent’s growing role in global supply chains tied to critical minerals and manufacturing.
A report released last month by the Clean Air Task Force found that more than $101.9 billion (€88.8bn) had flowed into Africa’s renewable energy sector from Gulf countries by the end of 2024, led by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and state-backed companies are unlikely to scale back these renewable energy investments, despite disruptions from the Iran war, analysts say, given the strong long-term economic and strategic reasons driving such funding.
Shortstack@reddthat.com 2 days ago
This is why I’m actually kinda happy Iran throttled the global oil supply, it’s literally the reason global warming is a problem in the first place.
We can’t run on oil long term if we wish to continue existing on this planet and this squeeze means that renewables will be more widely accepted and hopefully accessible for everyone
MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Agreed, but my 401k is in agony because the sheep are fixated on oil. By sheep, I mean the world’s power brokers.
This will accelerate investment in the right places.
Shortstack@reddthat.com 2 days ago
My retirement accounts have suffered a whole lot more than a single ’once in a lifetime’ economic crisis, what’s one more? At least this time we know it’ll be better on the other side
hanrahan@slrpnk.net 2 days ago
I can only agree, it’s not like climate scientists telling us to stop burning fossil fuels has made any difference.
that said we have an oil crisis every other decade and it makes little difference.