‘The perfect ingredients’: WRI Africa deputy director shares vision for the continent’s energy transition

The quest to bring energy to Africans who need it often centers on the relatable electrical needs that arise in the home: lighting, phone charging, and a connection to what’s going on in the broader world through a radio or a television. Indeed, 40% of the continent’s population — around 600 million people — don’t even have that basic level of access. Where power access does exist, it’s often not enough to support the more intensive needs of essential services such as schools, hospitals and water treatment facilities. At the 2025 U.N. climate conference, COP30, in Belém, Brazil, running Nov. 10-21, ensuring a “just energy transition” in Africa and elsewhere that lack access has been a central topic of discussion. The overall rise in atmospheric carbon stems largely from the burning of foss