"Africa must have natural gas to complement its renewable energy," African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina said Friday on the sidelines of the U.N. conference, being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Even if Africa were to triple its production of natural gas from current levels, its contribution to global emissions would only rise by 0.67%, he said.
It has also put 85% of its investments between 2016-2021 into renewable energy.
Still, natural gas is needed to balance out the electricity supply given the intermittent nature of renewables, he said.
"My interest is how Africa uses natural gas as part of its energy mix to provide electricity for 600 million people today that don't have access to electricity."