By AFP - Agence France Presse
King of Lesotho presents green energy to Davos elites
Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - King Letsie III of Lesotho embarked on an ambitious mission to snowy Davos, where global power leaders have gathered, to make a royal proposal: to invest in the green transition of his small African nation.
The monarch traveled from his landlocked mountain kingdom in South Africa to promote his green energy fund at meetings with business and political leaders in the Swiss alpine village.
“Davos seems to be a magnet for political, economic, and business leaders from all over the world,” King Letsie told AFP in an interview at the World Economic Forum.
“We felt that, if possible, we should come and see how we can engage with some of these business leaders, some of these political leaders, to see how we can sell... our renewable energy potential,” he said.
Lesotho is a poor country with just over two million inhabitants, plagued by droughts and economically dependent on South Africa, where much of the population goes to work and sends money home.
Many works in gold and diamond mines in South Africa, but fewer are working there as the sector is “no longer what it used to be”, said King Letsie.
Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy in which the king has no formal power, but King Letsie has traveled the world to promote the privately managed fund.
The fund aims to boost private investment in solar, power, and hydropower projects in Lesotho and, one day, to export renewable energy to South Africa.
“I see... our potential for renewable energy production as something that can be a transformative factor in the development of our economy,” said King Letsie.
“We need to create a different economic model.”
'Making things happen'
British bank Standard Chartered and South Africa's Standard Bank Group are providing financial advice to the fund, which was launched in February 2024 and is known as the His Majesty King Letsie III Just Energy Transition Fund.
King Letsie is working to attract investors.
“What we desperately need now is to get some catalytic funding, to get things moving,” he said.
Lesotho has plenty of sunlight, wind, and water to offer, and has partnered with Chinese companies to produce solar energy.
But it is also on the frontline of climate change, with a drought last year that destroyed crops and livestock and forced the government to declare a national state of emergency.
“That's one of the glaring impacts of climate change,” said King Letsie.
In Davos, he has meetings scheduled with mining group Anglo American, a Danish wind energy company, and the presidents of South Africa and Botswana.
“We've been to Scandinavia, all the Nordic countries. We've been to the UK and the US, trying to talk to different institutions and companies to get them to come, get involved, and invest,” said King Letsie.
“I'm optimistic,” he said. “The mood in the international community is one of moving away from fossil fuels and moving towards renewable energy.”
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