Energy Transition & Geopolitics in Sub-Saharan Africa: Outlining a Legal Framework to Scale the Energy Infrastructure Financing Conundrum

Abstract

The global energy transition and geopolitics scene paints a picture of uncertainty and anxiety. This is propelled by the increasing need for renewable energy, the disruptive Middle Eastern conflicts and the resurgence of the global political and ideological divide, thereby threatening the predominately conventional hydrocarbon energy sources. Climate change parameters add further complexity, and perhaps an additional burden for sub-Saharan Africa struggling to develop energy infrastructure to meet its increasing demands. Looming energy transition and the abundance of natural resources poses both threats and opportunities for sub-Saharan Africa. The challenges include the lack of significant investment in energy infrastructure, human resources, and technology. The natural resource of sub-Sahara Africa places it in a prime position to effectively exploit and possibly lead in renewable energy transition.At present sub-Saharan Africa’s reliance on biomass is still high and the need to transition from heavy reliance on unsustainable biomass to renewable energy is stark. Equally stark is the optimism to leapfrog the conventional path to energy development and shift directly to renewables, in view of the advances in technology and climate change concerns. Recent trends show a shift in policy by African States towards abolishing energy production state monopolies and creating the platform to successfully overcome the energy trilemma, especially by financing sustainable energy projects.This paper, approached from a legal perspective, examines the recent optimism in Sub- Saharan Africa’s energy transition policies, evaluating the financing patterns, with the aim of assessing how the financing methods have promoted or limited energy projects. This article claims that the adoption of a legal framework that is receptive to innovative financing schemes will reduce the heavy reliance on donor support, worryingly influenced by global geopolitics. It further asserts that sub-Saharan Africa’s energy transition depends greatly on the supplementation of the traditional donor driven, highly politicized funding patterns, to developing specific themed equity and debt financing, including private-public partnerships, securitisation, targeting investors (even within Africa), with political commitments to open market access, thereby democratizing energy access and production.