Filling in the gaps in Africa’s just energy transition
A just transition requires harmonised policies, regional cooperation, and targeted support to ensure that the benefits of clean energy reach all communities
A just energy transition across Africa depends on aligning climate, energy, poverty and inequality policies, as seen in Kenya, while in South Africa, a long-standing push for a green economy is held back by a sophisticated but fragmented policy landscape that breeds contradictions and institutional gaps.
These findings come from two new reports that look at how policies are shaping Africa’s energy transition.
Least cost programming of local resources and good governance are some of the topics that Abel Didier Tella, Director General of Association of Power Utilities of Africa (APUA), covers in this interview.
In its latest report on Kenya, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) highlights that the country’s renewable-energy policies are strong but not fully aligned with climate, povert, and industrial policies, which limits the fairness and effectiveness of the energy transition.
SEI warns that, despite the current transition towards increased renewable electricity generation, conflicts remain between deployment of renewable energy and affordability of electricity. Thus, it says, this transition has not necessarily led to equitable outcomes.
“Institutional barriers are key drivers of incoherence, hindering progress on economic growth, poverty and inequality reduction and subsequently greenhouse gas emission reduction in energy demand sectors.
“Interests and power dynamics in the electricity market influence the affordability of electricity and are drivers of incoherence and exacerbate inequality,” SEI said.
South Africa’s green economy stalled by fragmented policies and gaps
In South Africa, a recent report by the Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI) shows that the country’s green-economy ambitions, though central to national development since 2008, rely on a sophisticated but fragmented set of policies.
The report indicates that overlapping regulations and inconsistent institutional arrangements have created contradictions that slow the adoption and scaling of green technologies.
It shows that while programmes like the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) demonstrate that coherent policy can attract investment and transfer technology, broader adoption across sectors such as water, waste and agriculture remains limited, highlighting the need for a unified, coordinated policy framework.
“Effective progress relies on harmonising the policy landscape, scaling proven financial models and strengthening institutional linkages to foster a resilient and inclusive green technology ecosystem,” said APRI.
At the continental level, the 2022 United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (UN OSAA) Interdepartmental Task Force on African Affairs (IDTFAA) Compendium emphasised that Africa’s energy transition must be guided by a pan-African strategy that balances renewable energy development with energy access, equity and economic development.
It stresses that a just transition requires harmonised policies, regional cooperation and targeted support to ensure that the benefits of clean energy reach all communities, particularly the most vulnerable.
The UN OSAA called on African governments to identify and address bottlenecks in renewable energy supply to foster clean energy, economic growth and leverage opportunities for a just transition.
“Renewable energy scale-up depends on a stable policy environment, providing long-term revenue certainty and the transparent granting of permits.
“Governments can accelerate private sector investment and implementation by sending clear policy signals through robust and detailed country-level renewable and high-efficiency energy transition plans and policy mandates, binding decarbonisation targets, and a clear trajectory for achieving such targets by supporting infrastructure planning and investment.”
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