For decades, Africa's energy future has been discussed, debated - and too often decided - in rooms where African voices were secondary. Policies were designed abroad, narratives shaped by institutions far removed from the continent's realities and strategies imposed with little regard for the lived experience of hundreds of millions of Africans.
Yet with 600m people still lacking access to electricity, 900m without clean cooking solutions, and a population set to reach 2.5bn by 2050, there has never been a more urgent moment for Africa to not only decide, but drive, its own energy future.
Rewriting the narrative on Africa's energy futureAfrica's energy debate is often framed through a narrow Western environmental lens, detached from the continent's development needs. The data tells a starkly different story. Limited access to electricity and clean cooking has driven an overreliance on traditional biomass, with 83 of people in sub-Saharan Africa dependent on these fuels. According to the African Development Bank, the resulting health impacts amount to 526.3bn, with deforestation, indoor air pollution and premature deaths reaching crisis levels.
