Why the global electrification agenda misses the point on Africa’s energy crisis

The global electrification goal aims to increase electricity's share of global final energy consumption from approximately 20% today to 35% by 2035, supported by the international Electrify Now campaign. This campaign seeks to replace fossil fuels with clean energy across transportation, heating, and industry. While developed nations focus on replacing existing systems with electric alternatives, the electrification challenge in sub-Saharan Africa is fundamentally different. The continent faces a massive deficit, with 85% of the global population lacking electricity access. For the region, electrification must serve as a foundation for human dignity, economic sovereignty, and development, rather than merely being a means for decarbonization.
The transition requires addressing infrastructure deficits; simply expanding power connections is insufficient if access does not lead to reliable, affordable, clean energy that supports productive economic activities. Furthermore, the generation methods must be aligned with local realities. Relying solely on expanding demand without addressing energy poverty or ensuring clean, distributed power risks locking regions into unsustainable infrastructure choices. There is a call for global frameworks to integrate African realities by prioritizing renewable energy deployment and local industrial development, moving beyond an extractive model where Africa supplies raw materials while external entities control finished technology.

* The headline target for the Action Agenda is raising electricity’s share of global final energy consumption from around 20% today to 35% by 2035.
* The Electrify Now campaign aims to replace fossil fuels with clean energy by shifting travel, transport, cooking/warming, and powering industries.
* Africa accounts for 85% of the global population without electricity, up from 50% in 2010.
* Half of the number of people without electricity access in Africa live in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
* Solar power installations in Africa have increased sharply, driven by utility-scale projects and private rooftop/commercial systems.
* Africa holds 60% of the world’s best solar resources, along with potential in hydro, wind, and geothermal energy.
* A shipping carbon price at the IMO could create a climate fund of $12 billion annually for electrification in Africa's ships and ports.
* Policies in Ethiopia, such as banning petrol/diesel car imports, led to increased electric vehicle uptake.

The core tension in this narrative lies between a top-down, Western-centric framework for electrification and the decentralized, foundational imperatives of African development. The argument posits that imposing a global transition metric risks treating Africa as merely another energy market to be optimized, ignoring the historical context where energy access is intrinsically linked to sovereignty and human development. The emphasis shifts from mere technology substitution (e.g., swapping fuel types) to structural transformation—building energy systems from the ground up powered by local renewable resources.
A significant pattern emerges regarding infrastructure: the critique suggests that electrification must prioritize decentralization, micro-grids, and industrial security rather than simply expanding centralized grids connected to volatile fossil fuel sources or external investment models. This challenges the assumption that large-scale grid expansion is the sufficient solution for energy poverty. Furthermore, the linkage between climate goals and resource extraction reveals a pattern of systemic misalignment: global climate action coexists with continued demands for mineral extraction, creating a mechanism where African economies remain suppliers rather than masters of the transition.
The implications suggest a shift in agency: African leaders are positioned to demand that international frameworks deliver tailored investments—focused on local renewable capacity, industrial value addition, and energy access—rather than imposing solutions designed for mature economies. The question then becomes how to operationalize this critique into binding mechanisms that reshape global climate architecture to honor the principle of self-determination in energy transitions, rather than merely enforcing a quantitative target. What specific mechanisms can be established to ensure finance and technology flow address local needs directly, bypassing extractive dependencies?