News Guide Africa

Tag: Clean Energy

  • Powering the Future: Why Resilience is the New Currency in Africa’s Green Revolution

    Powering the Future: Why Resilience is the New Currency in Africa’s Green Revolution

    By Adnan Adams Mohammed

    As the world marks the International Day of Clean Energy, a powerful consensus is emerging from West Africa’s policy corridors to its rural farmsteads: the transition to a green economy is no longer just about the technology we deploy, but the resilience of the systems we build around them.

    In a week defined by high-level calls for climate action, two major initiatives the UNU-INRA’s agricultural pivot and the U.K.-Ghana JET programme’s automotive roadmap have signaled that Africa’s path to Net Zero Carbon Emissions must be paved with robust policy, inclusive financing, and “buffer” systems that protect the most vulnerable.

    The Grassroots Engine: Resilient Agritech

    Speaking at the close of the Innovate for Clean Agricultural Technologies project, Professor Fatima Denton, Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), issued a sobering reminder. While clean energy is the goal, “resilience” is the survival mechanism.

    “Climate change and the devastation we are seeing in terms of land systems are affecting Africa more than any other continent,” Professor Denton noted. Her argument is clear: a solar pump or a clean-energy processor is only as good as the institutional support behind it. Without “coping mechanisms, buffers, and incentives,” even the most advanced innovations risk becoming stranded assets in the face of shifting climates.

    The UNU-INRA project has already begun putting theory into practice, providing US$37,000 in seed funding to innovators across Ghana, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire. For women entrepreneurs in these regions, clean energy isn’t just an environmental choice it is a productivity multiplier that breaks traditional barriers to market entry.

    The Urban Shift: Decarbonizing the Road

    While UNU-INRA focuses on the soil, the U.K.-Ghana Jobs and Economic Transformation (JET) programme is looking at the street. Transportation remains a leading polluter in Ghana, contributing to nearly half of all energy-related emissions. With air pollution now the second leading cause of death in the country costing the economy an estimated US$3 billion annually the “business as usual” model of importing aged, inefficient vehicles is no longer tenable.

    The JET programme highlights a massive industrial opportunity. Ghana has already attracted US$98 million in investment from global giants like Volkswagen, Toyota, and Nissan, establishing seven assembly plants with a capacity of 140,000 units per year. Yet, these factories remain underutilized.

    Bridging the Gap: Finance and Policy

    The common thread between a female farmer in rural Senegal and a car buyer in Accra is affordability. Both reports highlight that the “Clean Energy Revolution” will stall without structured financing.

    The JET programme is calling on the government, led by Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, to activate three critical levers:

    1. Policy Updates: Fast-tracking the Ghana Automotive Development Policy (GADP) to include electric 2/3-wheelers.

    2. Asset-Backed Financing: Moving away from cash-based purchases to allow low-income earners to buy new, clean vehicles.

    3. Government Procurement: Leading by example by ensuring the state’s massive fleet is sourced from local, clean-energy assemblers.

    The Verdict: A Just Transition

    The message from the final week of January 2026 is unambiguous: Africa does not lack the innovation or the will to go green. It lacks the systemic “resilience” to ensure these innovations stick.

    Whether it is providing seed funding for agritech or unlocking credit for electric vehicles, the goal is a “just transition” one where a cleaner environment simultaneously produces a more competitive manufacturing base and safer, high-quality jobs. As Terri Sarch of the British High Commission put it, “Every US$1 invested in renewables creates three times more jobs than in the fossil fuel industry.”

    The prize cleaner air, safer roads, and a thriving economy is within reach. But as Professor Denton cautioned, we must build the buffers today to protect the progress of tomorrow.

     

     

  • AfDB to intensify investments in clean cooking across Africa

    AfDB 

     

     

    The sprawling informal settlement of Mukuru on the outskirts of Nairobi holds powerful tales of how an innovative gas energy company is providing clean cooking solutions and restoring dignity to households in the Kenyan capital.

     

    Aurelia Aureh, now boasts of smoke-free cooking, following years of using charcoal, which poses a health hazard because of the emission of potent fumes. She usesM-Gas, for low- income households, which employs a pay-as-you-cook model, allowing them to access the commodity in small amounts.

     

    “Before I used to cook outside with charcoal, which was very expensive. I would spend about Ksh50 (about $0.38) on charcoal for any one cooking episode,” she said. Now she spends less than half that amount with less hassle and all the benefits.

     

    Aurelia is elated at the convenience that comes with using M-Gas. “I do not have to go to the gas vendor looking for the gas when it runs out, as M-Gas monitors my usage and replaces my gas before it runs out. I simply continue to pay for my immediate cooking needs from where I am (using M-Pesa mobile money). In addition, it is safe. I don’t have to worry about my children playing with it because it has tight security features.”

     

    M-Gas provides affordable clean cooking gas for low-income households in Kenya. Initiated in 2019, M-Gas uses smart meter technology to enable users to access liquid petroleum gas (LPG) in quantities they can afford for the moment, for even as low as Ksh10 (about $0.077), payable using mobile money. The technologysimplifies LPG access for consumers who cannot afford the upfront cost of gas and LPG cylinders, thus addressing the highcost- barrier of switching to and purchasing LPG.

     

     

    This caught the attention of the African Development Bank’s Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation, Solomon Quaynor, who was in Nairobi at the end of July 2024 to explore opportunities for collaboration in the country’s clean cooking sector.

     

    He met with Martin Kimani, the CEO of M-Gas. They discussed priority areas of partnership towards advancing Africa’s energy transition. He also met with Circle Gas, the parent company of M-Gas. In particular, Board Chairman Carey Ngini, and Board member Michael Joseph. Circle Gas has strategic partnerships with institutional partners, including Safaricom (connectivity and M-Pesa payment solutions), and Total Energies (LPG cooking cylinders).

     

    Quaynor visited Mukuru, where he interacted with Aurelia, and other residents.

     

     

    Mercy Karimi, another Mukuru resident, tells how before using M-Gas, her three-year-old daughter often got chest infections and breathing problems because of the dangerous fumes from kerosene, which she used for cooking. “But since I started using M-Gas, my child no longer has that problem, and can stay for a long time before visiting the hospital,” she said.

     

    Clean cooking is one of the Bank’s priority areas. In May this year, the Bank pledged $2 billion over 10 years towards clean cooking solutions in Africa—a move toward saving the lives of 600,000 mainly women and children, lost annually from the effects of secondary smoke from partial combustion of biomass, fuel wood and charcoal.

     

    Despite improved access to electricity in recent years, there is little progress to adopt clean cooking, with around a billion people across Africa still cooking over open fires and basic stoves. Using charcoal, wood, agricultural waste, and animal dung as fuel affects the lives of millions of people – mostly women and children – as they inhale toxic fumes and smoke while cooking.

     

    Quaynor also toured the M-Gas depot in Ruaka, a suburb located north-west of Nairobi. Here, he was taken through the paces of how the smart metered innovation works. He interacted with households and even business owners, to seek their views on the M-Gas innovation.

     

     

    Stephen Njogu, a resident of Ruaka, has been using M-Gas for two years now.

     

    “This system is cheaper because I can buy gas even with the little money I have, compared to the normal gas for which I have to buy the whole cylinder of gas. Secondly, M-Gas is clean, no smoke while cooking, unlike before when I used kerosene, which would emit dangerous smoke,” he said.

     

    Faith Kamau, who runs a small local eatery in Ruaka is another supporter. She is now, able to serve her customers without the fear of gas running out unexpectedly. “I am able to cook many dishes using little energy. I have been able to save some money, which I have diverted to buying more food stock. Besides, in case of any problem with the cooking system, I alert the M-Gas Customer Experience Centre, which responds very fast with advice on how to deal with the problem. I like M-Gas solution so much that I also have it at home”.

     

    According to Quaynor, such experiences are inspiring the Bank to intensify efforts to increase investments towards affordable clean cooking solutions for millions of Africans who still lack access. “The Bank is working withthe private sector, a key player in the energy transition, to catalyze investments in the sector to address energy povertyin line with Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) on affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all,” he emphasised.

     

    The Bank’s pledge of $200million per year represents an important contribution to the $4billion per year needed to allow more African families to have access to clean cooking by 2030.

     

    Source: afdb