By ODINAKACHI UMUNNA

I have always wondered why Africa was called the ‘dark continent’. Growing up, I heard two versions. One; that it was a term slave traders used to describe the continent based on what they defined as barbaric customs and habits, and thus justify their unjustifiable actions. The other version was it was because of the dark skin tone which all Africans hold. The fact is neither of those descriptions of Africa is true. And actually, the term ‘dark continent’ probably has its roots from the 19^th century Welsh-American journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley.

But, one thing is true of Africa though, if you are up in space, and looked down on earth at night, you can’t help but notice the relative lack of light in many parts of Africa compared to surrounding continents. Where are my going with this? In my last article, I discussed the importance, challenges and radical ideas to help deliver the target of doubling the rate of annual global energy efficiency improvement by 2030. But that leaves the question, is it possible to double energy efficiency in Africa considering that most economies are emerging and half the population lacks grid electricity? I believe the answer is YES, and here some possible pieces to the solution.

Awareness, awareness, awareness… but meet people where they are

The first step is raising public awareness that encourages and enables behavioral change. But, success requires home-grown awareness initiatives driven by people who have lived through the shared experiences of the population, are able to leverage entertainment (stories, drama, skits, movies, songs, folktales, arts, colour, etc) to drive this awareness, and can communicate to the people in the language and ways that speak to their heart.

Messaging is also important, messaging that meets people where they are by focusing on what moves people – money.

While energy efficiency is at its heart good for the climate, when people have to choose between money for food and saving the climate, it’s an obvious choice. And energy efficiency is good for the pocket. According to the latest IEA energy efficiency report, doubling the rate of energy efficiency could slash energy bills by one-third in advanced countries, and add up to 4.5 million jobs.

So, let’s make it about money.

And that’s what we did when in December, I launched the SABI Lifestyle initiative to provide simple home energy efficiency tips to Nigerians for 30 days.

We got the most traction on social media with an image captioned ‘did you know you could pay your rent for free’ as a way to incentivize people to join the challenge by highlighting the potentials of saving money from energy efficiency.

We also got good feedback on our use of language and media to reach the heart. What we now have to do, is figure out a way to scale.

Scale up quick win market mechanisms to close the cost of adoption of renewable energy and energy efficient products

The energy Infrastructure gap in parts of Africa provides an opportunity to build a much cleaner energy system from scratch to power its economic growth, but doing that requires hundreds of billions of dollars in investing from inside and outside Africa. This scale is only possible with financial tools that reduce the lifecycle cost of adoption of technologies. Two tools – carbon markets and low cost debt financing – can help.

The carbon market provides a mechanism for projects which reduce emissions to be financed by selling the carbon credits (the ‘right to emit GHGs’) created by the emissions reduction, a market Africa currently holds a negligible share of. This is partially driven by the dearth of: skilled developers to apply the relevant frameworks to package emissions reduction projects in Africa to meet the verification criteria; and verifiers to assess and certify the credits. Those are low-hanging fruits that can be addressed.

The 2nd tool – low cost debt financing will help to address the unfortunate reality that on average, cost of capital across Africa remains too high. Across the world, cheap debt financing has always been critical to scale infrastructure, and until that is available at scale, renewable adoption will remain a challenge.

Accelerate technology transfer by domesticating manufacturing

One advantage that several countries in Africa have is that we can skip the R&D stage and replicate proven technologies that enable decarbonisation. But this quickly becomes a disadvantage if product manufacturing occurs outside the continent. Simply put, the balance of payment deficit (e.g. in Nigeria where the naira has been on a free-fall) makes it difficult to scale any innovation that requires spending scarce Forex earnings on tens of millions of relatively easy to manufacture consumer products. So, we need to ‘truly transfer technology’ by investing to build up an industrial sector in Africa that will make everything from energy efficient bulbs to solar panels, from batteries to electrical vehicles, from wind turbine blades to efficient electrical motors.

The relative low cost of labour and relatively high unemployment rate is an advantage, but requires investors who are willing to take a chance on Africa (putting their money where their mouth is), deploying patient capital, and accept a discount on investment premiums, especially at the beginning. But if doing business in the 21^st century has taught us anything, it is that it is a sustainable business model. The list of the most capitalized companies include Microsoft, Facebook and Alphabet that found a way to give their main product away; and monetize the secondary benefits. And ultimately, access to customers and integration control points is what provides a truly competitive advantage.

Other critical pieces of the puzzle include to:

• Have bold national ambitions backed by a commitment to take comprehensive domestic actions, focusing on the key tools and enablers most relevant to national and local circumstances.

• Strengthen international collaboration on renewables and energy efficiency, including on resilient value chains and technology development.

• Promote energy efficiency, electrification and energy demand management in all relevant sectors.

• Enhance capacity building and development of a skilled renewables and energy efficiency workforce, supporting current energy workers at risk of displacement by the energy transition.

I am not naïve to believe that implementing only these solutions will make the problem disappear. But, it is a start, and I cannot see a solution without these.

One more thing, why? Why should anyone care if Africa achieves energy efficiency gains. To put it simply, Africa will close its energy access gap … eventually. But, if the climate crisis has taught us anything, it is that when people ask first how can I get access to electricity as quickly as possible, instead of how can I quickly get access to sustainable energy, the earth, and all of us pay the price. It started in Europe, then North America, and the same scenario is evolving in the Middle East, and now India, and China whereas it takes 40% more energy to fuel GDP than in the US, and almost 100% more than in the EU. I guess you could say, Africa is the last hope to get it right. So, while we seek to reverse the mistakes of yesterday, let’s also prevent the mistakes of tomorrow!

•Engr. Odinakachi Umunna is an energy and strategy expert with a decade’s experience in the energy industry, media and public sector in Africa and Europe. He is passionate about sustainably closing Africa’s energy gap; and can be reached at umunnaodinakachi@gmail.com.

•Note: Views shared in this article are mine, and does not necessarily reflect that of any organisation I am affiliated with.

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