3 Energy Transition in Africa: Context, Barriers and Strategies
105
fuels. One way to do this is by using clean fossil fuel technologies. Most
of these technologies have high investment and operation costs and will,
therefore, require African countries to source funds for their installation
and management. Proffered ways in the chapter for African countries to
raise funds include—private sector engagement, green bonds, bilateral
development cooperation and from multilateral development banks.
Another way for African countries to exploit their fossil fuels while
reducing their carbon footprint is by using fossil fuels as building
blocks for petrochemicals. They will, however, need to complement
such use with waste management practices; otherwise, it will be a zerosum game as pollution of the environment will negate the very gains
made from converting fossil fuels into petrochemicals. Additionally, total
carbon emissions now include carbon-intensive exports taken out of that
country’s territory. As such, fuel exporting countries will need to find
ways to offset their extraction-based emissions. The most common way
of offsetting extraction-based emissions is through emissions trading,
African countries would, therefore, need to participate in emissions
trading. To this end, African countries could consider accepting binding
commitments and thereby obtain assigned units which they can transfer
(when their emissions are lower than their target) or acquire (when their
emissions are higher than their targets) in order to meet the objectives of
the Paris Agreement. African countries will also need to moderate their
emissions from fossil powered vehicles. In the build-up to the uptake
of electric vehicles, they could reduce their vehicular carbon emissions
by substituting fossil fuels for biofuels produced from energy crops.
The production of biofuels, however, has key sustainability issues with
great implications on the structure of agriculture, food security, biodiversity and climate change and African countries will thus need to put in
place carefully designed biofuel policies to ensure that the utilization of
biofuels is both viable and sustainable.
Other strategies discussed in Sect. 3.4 are—African countries should
come up with transition mitigating and transition de-risking plans such
as early retiring of assets plans or economic diversification plans in anticipation of the energy transition, in a bid to mitigate and de-risk the
transition. The countries should also fine-tune their legal and regulatory framework to accord with their global climate mitigation strategies.
105
fuels. One way to do this is by using clean fossil fuel technologies. Most
of these technologies have high investment and operation costs and will,
therefore, require African countries to source funds for their installation
and management. Proffered ways in the chapter for African countries to
raise funds include—private sector engagement, green bonds, bilateral
development cooperation and from multilateral development banks.
Another way for African countries to exploit their fossil fuels while
reducing their carbon footprint is by using fossil fuels as building
blocks for petrochemicals. They will, however, need to complement
such use with waste management practices; otherwise, it will be a zerosum game as pollution of the environment will negate the very gains
made from converting fossil fuels into petrochemicals. Additionally, total
carbon emissions now include carbon-intensive exports taken out of that
country’s territory. As such, fuel exporting countries will need to find
ways to offset their extraction-based emissions. The most common way
of offsetting extraction-based emissions is through emissions trading,
African countries would, therefore, need to participate in emissions
trading. To this end, African countries could consider accepting binding
commitments and thereby obtain assigned units which they can transfer
(when their emissions are lower than their target) or acquire (when their
emissions are higher than their targets) in order to meet the objectives of
the Paris Agreement. African countries will also need to moderate their
emissions from fossil powered vehicles. In the build-up to the uptake
of electric vehicles, they could reduce their vehicular carbon emissions
by substituting fossil fuels for biofuels produced from energy crops.
The production of biofuels, however, has key sustainability issues with
great implications on the structure of agriculture, food security, biodiversity and climate change and African countries will thus need to put in
place carefully designed biofuel policies to ensure that the utilization of
biofuels is both viable and sustainable.
Other strategies discussed in Sect. 3.4 are—African countries should
come up with transition mitigating and transition de-risking plans such
as early retiring of assets plans or economic diversification plans in anticipation of the energy transition, in a bid to mitigate and de-risk the
transition. The countries should also fine-tune their legal and regulatory framework to accord with their global climate mitigation strategies.