African landscape
Africans are experiencing today the negative effects of climate change, including water stress, reduced food production, increased frequency of extreme weather events and lower economic growth, which causes mass migration and regional instability.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent food, energy and the commodity prices soaring, increasing the strains on African economies. The overlapping crises are affecting many parts of Africa’s energy systems, including reversing positive trends in improving access to modern energy, with 4% more people living without electricity in 2021 than in 2019.
Africa is already facing more severe climate change than most other parts of the world. With one-fifth of the world’s population, Africa accounts for less than 3% of the world’s energy-related carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions and has the lowest emissions per capita of any region.
For all of these difficulties, the global clean energy transition holds new promise for Africa’s economic development. The countries representing more than 70% of global CO2 emission have committed to reach net zero emissions by around mid-century. This includes 12 African countries that represent over 40% of the continent’s total CO2 emissions.
More in special report Africa Energy Outlook 2022 prepared by International Energy Agency.
Source: International Energy Agency
