A campaign to mobilize investments in renewable energy in Africa, led by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, has secured €15.5 billion ($17.8 billion) to drive forward clean energy use across the continent.

The campaign, organized in collaboration with the international advocacy organization Global Citizen and with the policy support of the International Energy Agency, is aimed at driving public and private investment in supporting the clean energy transition in Africa, expanding access to electricity, and promoting Africa's sustainable economic growth, the EU said in a statement.

The funds will also help to make better use of the continent's enormous solar energy potential. Around 600 million people in Africa still have no access to electricity, von der Leyen she said at the closing event of the financing campaign on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg.

According to the European Commission, the European Union and its member states are providing a total of around €15.1 billion of the total amount. Germany's contribution is estimated at more than €2 billion.

The background to the campaign was an agreement reached at the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai. At the conference, heads of state and prime ministers committed to tripling the capacity of renewable energies worldwide by the end of this decade.

According to the European Commission, Africa can play an important role in this. The continent has 60% of the world's best solar resources, the authority announced on Friday. At the same time, Africa has so far attracted only 2% of global energy investment.