2021 Reports

Roadmap to Zero-Carbon Electrification of Africa

Sachs, Jeffrey D.; Toledano, Perrine; Brauch, Martin Dietrich; Mebratu-Tsegaye, Tehtena; Uwaifo, Efosa Christopher; Sherrill, Bryan Michael

All Africans—whether living in urban or rural areas—need access to affordable, clean, efficient, reliable, climate-proof, and renewable energy for both residential and productive uses to achieve sustainable development objectives. At the same time, the world is moving to decarbonization by 2050, and Africa will be part of this global trend. Prospective oil and gas projects in Africa will no longer be pursued as overseas markets, and financing will shrink. At the same time, Africa’s vast renewable energy potential, in the solar and hydropower sectors especially, will engage increasingly bankable and highly attractive investments. In net terms, Africa has a huge amount to gain from a decisive build-up of renewable energy and the capacity to produce the minerals, hardware, and software of the new zero-carbon energy economy.

With support from the African Natural Resources Centre of the African Development Bank (AfDB), and under the guidance of Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, the CCSI team prepared a report setting out a comprehensive and actionable roadmap for Africa’s zero-carbon energy transformation by 2050, with most advances achieved by 2030.