Aoife Brophy and Philipp Trotter, two Oxford University experts have outlined what they consider three important ways for policymakers to enable energy access for development in the continent.
In an article they both authored, the experts- who are of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford- said that there is an estimated $3 trillion per annum investment gap to help low-income countries reach sustainable development goals.
The researchers said that in Africa, much faith has been placed in the private sector by development banks and governments to make up this shortfall, especially in the energy sector.
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“And it’s easy to see why private energy sector investments have increased more than five-fold in the last ten years,” they said. “The total funding raised by start-ups in Africa was just $55 million in 2015. In 2021, that number grew to $4.4 billion. And it took only the first seven weeks in 2022 to hit the $1 billion mark.
Speaking further, they said, “the trajectory is clear, however, unless policymakers encourage the right kinds of business models to flourish, private sector growth will not necessarily translate into progress for sustainable and low-carbon development”.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
