Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa is considered a region with enormous economic and demographic potential. One of the main challenges it faces, included in the “Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, implemented by the African Union”, is to provide access to electricity. Currently, 600 million inhabitants of the African continent do not have access to electricity, which is a significant limiting factor for further economic growth and socio-economic development. Moreover, the measures taken by individual Sub-Saharan African countries appear insufficient in the face of rapid population growth. The aim of the article is to analyse the opportunities and challenges of the development of Sub-Saharan Africa’s energy sector. This raises the following research question: to what extent can a sustainable energy transition be achieved in sub-Saharan African countries to ensure access to electricity? The study used Ward’s hierarchical clustering method, classification and regression tree analysis, and the distance-weighted least squares method. The results show that the level of development of the energy sector in the individual countries of Sub-Saharan Africa varies greatly. Moreover, the Sub-Saharan African region is exposed to the effects of climate change, which also affects the development of the energy sector and whether or not access to electricity can be ensured. The study contributes to assessments of the adaptive capacity and transformative potential of the energy sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is particularly important for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 7, which relates to building more robust and efficient systems, as well as implementing diversified energy sources. This research is crucial to bridge the energy access gap and build a resilient and sustainable economy in Sub-Saharan Africa countries.
Highlights
Energy is one of the key factors enabling the achievement of sustainable development [1,2,3]
We focused on the development of the energy sector in the Sub-Saharan Africa region because it is an extremely important area of economic growth and socio-economic development
The study aimed to answer the following research question: to what extent can a sustainable energy transition be achieved in Sub-Saharan African countries to ensure access to electricity? Based on available data, overall positive developments can be observed in the development of the energy sector in Sub-Saharan African countries
Summary
Energy is one of the key factors enabling the achievement of sustainable development [1,2,3]. Research shows that the development of the energy sector plays an important role both in ensuring access to electricity and stimulating economic growth, e.g., by expanding the economy to include productive economic activities [4], as well as by increasing the country’s export potential [5]. Sub-Saharan Africa displays dynamic economic growth, progressive urbanisation and huge demographic potential [1,12]. The African continent as a whole and the Sub-Saharan. African region are characterised by high population rates and rising income levels. The region has the lowest level of access to electricity in the world [13]
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