A Just Transition is Attainable for Africa Africa has a significant opportunity to embrace a fully just transition that addresses a wide range of challenges and inadequacies while providing viable
solutions.
A new report on the just transition highlights how Africa can achieve a more resilient and equitable development path by strengthening its food and energy infrastructure. The report, co-authored by a group of independent experts led by Dr. YoubaSokona, Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
emphasizes the potential for Pan-African collaboration to drive the continent towards a new path of development and a just transition. It suggests leveraging Africa’s abundant renewable energy sources, prioritizing food sovereignty, and tapping into its development potential.
Dr. Youba Sokona urges African leaders to make a crucial decision: whether to follow the path of their former colonizers who contributed to global pollution through the burning of fossil fuels or to forge a different path.
He emphasizes the need to prioritize renewable energy over fossil fuels, stating, “Africa, being at an energy crossroads, can show the world that development in the 21st Century can be different from that of the 20th Century.”
The report analyzes the impact of climate change, misguided development policies, and colonial dependencies, which have trapped African countries in cycles of external debt.
Ali Mohamed, Head of Climate Change Envoy, Kenya, highlights the importance of African leaders coming together to address these challenges and mentions the establishment of the first-ever loss and damage fund as evidence of their unity of purpose.
The report underscores the possibility of a just transition and the opportunities it presents for Africa to shape its own future. It emphasizes the need for a strategic vision rooted in Africa’s shared history, responsive to its potential, and articulated with confidence.
The report identifies three structural bottlenecks facing Africa: food insecurity and undernutrition, energy poverty caused by inappropriate fossil-fuel-base systems, and failed or ineffective industrial strategies.
It proposes addressing these challenges through a transition to food sovereignty through agroecology, a just energy transition towards people-centered, 100% renewable energy systems, and pan-African industrial policies that leverage the continent’s resources while prioritizing the well-being of its people and the environment.
President William Ruto expresses his conviction of a great future for Africa and calls for assertiveness in pursuing the climate and development agenda through unified approaches outlined in the report. He believes that embracing such strategies, Africa can mitigate the climate emergency and propel itself to
prosperity.
The report serves as a wake-up call for African leaders, warning that without a renewal of strategic vision, the continent will remain a target for global powers seeking to control its resources, markets, and institutions. It presents the main challenges faced by Africa and suggests tangible solutions that, if implemented, can bring about significant change.
These focus areas include achieving food sovereignty to reduce dependence on food imports, addressing energy poverty that affects over 600 million Africans, adopting a pan-African industrial approach to develop internal markets and strategic partnerships, and calling for a just transition through global cooperation on energy and material use, considering degrowth for those who overconsume.
According to Mr. Mohamed Adow, Power Shift Africa Director, there is a global race for leadership in renewable energy, and African countries have the opportunity to benefit greatly. He emphasizes the need for African leaders to adopt a Pan-African approach and work together to develop their own support
plan for accelerating the clean energy revolution.
President Ruto emphasizes that realizing Africa’s potential requires bold and innovative approaches that match the magnitude of the climate change challenges faced by the continent. He calls for urgency and caution against repeating the mistakes of the past, stating that replicating past errors while expecting different results is not an option.
