Climate change and extreme weather events are inflicting unprecedented damage on African countries, obliterating socio-ecological systems, and threatening lives and livelihoods.
The world has a clear and urgent need to take concrete steps towards limiting global temperature rise to well below 1.5°C. The World Resources Institute recognized that energy consumption accounts for 76% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Although Africa is only a minor contributor to climate change (accounting for 3-5% of global GHGs), it bears the brunt of adverse impacts across all sectors of its economy. The continent faces severe environmental challenges, including land degradation, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and extreme vulnerability to climate change. At the same time, Africa struggles to address immediate challenges, such as universal energy access.
Nearly 600 million people on the continent continue to live without access to electricity, and more than 900 million lack access to clean cooking solutions. COVID-19’s economic impact on Africa has also rolled back some of the gains made in recent years towards reducing Africa’s energy access deficit. Yet at the same time, energy demand in Africa is expected to nearly double by 2040. Without significant energy efficiency improvements for existing and new infrastructure, the demand for necessary energy services might be considerably higher.
Thus, meeting this expected and necessary growth in energy services, eliminating energy and other poverty, and building a green, renewable-based economy must be the main priorities in determining Africa’s future energy mix. Great opportunities also lie amongst these massive challenges. Africa benefits from being a latecomer in building foundational infrastructure for development.
African countries can leapfrog to modern energy systems that are based on 100% renewables, and they can build green economies without locking themselves into stranded fossil fuel assets and overly centralized energy systems. Green hydrogen, referring only to renewable-based hydrogen, can bring intersecting benefits for countries’ sustainable socio-economic development and provide leapfrogging opportunities.
