Description

Cameroon ranks 47th out of 55 countries on Climatescope 2014 with a score of 0.65. It performed best on Greenhouse Gas Management Activities Parameter IV, taking 35th place.

Like many countries in West Africa, Cameroon is reliant on its oil industry. Although it provides the government with more than a quarter of its annual revenue, the country looks elsewhere for the majority of its power supply. More than half of the country’s 1.3GW of on-grid capacity and 82% of its electricity production is provided by large hydro, with the remainder coming from distributed plants fuelled by oil and diesel.

Under its development strategy, Vision 2035, Cameroon aims to increase generating capacity to 3GW by 2020, mostly with new large hydro and fossil fuel plants. For instance, it commissioned a 216MW natural gas plant in 2013. So far, non-large hydro clean energy has played a minor role: in 2013, there was no clean energy investment and since 2006 there has been just $102m.

There has been significant activity off-grid, where the government’s liberalized policy framework has allowed for developers to enter the market. Under tax regulations introduced in 2013, renewable energy projects can qualify for a VAT reduction for five years and various tax rebates for up to 10 years.