TIME AFRICA SWITCHED

Africa has always been energy-poor, and the scenario has gotten worse in the past decade. The continent must leapfrog to renewables to become energy-secure, and the West would do well to aid the transition.

- KIRAN PANDEY, ANANYA ANOOP RAO and JAY C SHIV, with KEMO CHAM, WINNIE BOTHA, RIVONALA RAZAFISON, ASSOGBA CHRISTOPHE, TONY MALESI, MEKONNEN TESHOME  and BENNETT OGHIFO

AFTER SHOWING some signs of progress, Africa is backsliding in its efforts to meet energy needs of its population. More Africans live without electricity and clean cooking fuel now than a decade ago (see 'Left behind'). In subSaharan Africa, which is home to some of the world's poorest countries, every other person (566 million) lacks access to electricity and 82 per cent (933.5 million) prepare meals with polluting fuel. This is at a time when most other regions are on track to achieve universal access to clean energy as part of the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 7. In North Africa and West Asia, 92.6 per cent of the people have access to clean fuel and technology, shows an estimate by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its report, "Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report, 2022"; globally, the figure is 71.1 per cent.

The IEA report further states that sub-Saharan Africa's share in the global population without electricity has risen to 84 per cent from 50 per cent a decade ago; and its share in global population without clean cooking fuel has increased to 41 per cent from 25 per cent. If governments respond ineptly, warns the UN, over 1.1 billion people in the region could be without clean fuels by 2030.

Such a high level of energy poverty has ripple effects on people's everyday lives; it impacts health, shrinks livelihood options, impedes economic growth and makes access to education nearly impossible. More than that, it creates a trap that keeps countries underdeveloped and people poor. This is already playing out in sub-Saharan Africa.