Freetown International Conference Centre, Aberdeen, Monday, 21 October 2025 – His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio has officially opened the Climate Resilience and Energy Transition Dialogue (CRET) 2025 at the Freetown International Conference Centre, welcoming distinguished guests and stakeholders under the theme “Mobilising Investments for Climate Action, Food Security, Clean Cooking and Just Energy Transition for All.”
Reflecting on the 2023 and 2024 editions of the dialogue, President Bio highlighted that CRET reaffirmed Sierra Leone’s commitment to bold, inclusive discussions on climate action, energy security, and food systems transformation, attracting global, regional, and national experts, including policymakers, private sector leaders, and civil society organizations.
President Bio recalled the 2024 OPEC Fund Investment Roundtable, which spotlighted Sierra Leone as a destination for green investment. These efforts culminated in a $260 million funding package from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), including a US$200,000 grant to establish a Climate Finance and Energy Innovation Hub.
The funding, formalized through a Country Partnership Framework (CPF) agreement, will support agriculture, infrastructure, energy, and water management, aligned with Sierra Leone’s Medium-Term National Development Plan 2024–2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Today, CRET 2025 consolidates these developments and institutional gains to operationalize our Just Energy Transition and Green Growth Plan, mobilizing national and international stakeholders to accelerate Sierra Leone’s energy transition,” President Bio said.
The 2025 dialogue spotlights Mission 300, an Africa-led initiative to connect 300 million people to electricity by 2030. Sierra Leone plans to expand electricity access from 36 percent to nearly 78 percent, adding at least 720,000 new household connections through grid expansion, off-grid solutions, and mini-grid renewable energy systems.
“Energy transition in Sierra Leone is a practical, deliberate, systematic, and people-centered process. We remain committed to reforming energy governance, improving transparency, reducing losses in distribution and transmission, and ensuring no one is left behind,” President Bio added.
Convened under the Presidential Initiative on Climate Change, Renewable Energy, and Food Security (PI-CREF), in collaboration with relevant ministries and development partners including UNDP, GIZ, and IOM, CRET 2025 will host around 500 stakeholders from government, private sector, civil society, academia, and international partners such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, SEforALL, MCC, IRENA, and FCDO.
The two-day dialogue features plenary and parallel sessions on Mission 300, energy utility reforms, renewable energy investment, regional power integration, clean cooking technologies, climate finance, off-grid solutions, and youth-led agribusiness.
“CRET 2025 will deliver knowledge, explore private sector investment opportunities, and map the way forward for a credible carbon trading system, while sustaining commitments to Feed Salone and accelerating energy transition across the country,” the President explained.
Key initiatives to be launched include the Mission 300 Sierra Leone Compact, National Clean Cooking Strategy, ECOWAS LPG 20/20 Programme, OFID CPF Agreement, Climate Finance and Energy Innovation Hub, Multi-Year Tariff Order Tool, SLEWRC Mini-Grid Regulations 2025, SLEWRC Act 2025, and the Salone Off-Grid Renewable Energy Acceleration Project (SOGREA).
The event underscores Sierra Leone’s commitment to climate action, sustainable energy, food security, and inclusive economic growth, signaling that the country is ready to lead a large-scale energy transformation under accountable governance.
