Just Transition: A Climate, Energy and Development Vision for Africa
- wikuskruger
- Jan 1, 2023
- 1 min read
This report advances an African-led vision of a just transition that places development, equity, and sovereignty at the centre of climate and energy transformation. It argues that dominant global just transition narratives, often shaped by industrialised countries and international finance institutions, risk reproducing dependency, extractivism, and exclusion unless they are firmly grounded in African priorities and realities.
Situating Africa’s transition within intersecting crises of climate change, energy poverty, food insecurity, and structural economic vulnerability, the report challenges narrow, technocratic approaches focused primarily on emissions reduction. Instead, it frames just transition as a broader political and economic project centred on livelihoods, industrialisation, public services, and democratic ownership of energy systems. Energy access and sufficiency are treated as foundational to development, not secondary outcomes of decarbonisation.
The report offers a critical assessment of donor-driven initiatives, including Just Energy Transition Partnerships, highlighting concerns around debt, transparency, and limited attention to justice and participation. It warns that poorly regulated renewable energy expansion can reproduce social and environmental harms. Drawing on Agenda 2063 and African-led initiatives, the report calls for African ownership, regional cooperation, grant-based finance, and a new global social contract that enables climate-compatible development on Africa’s own terms.
