Meeting the targets of the Paris Agreement: an analysis of renewable energy (RE) governance systems in West Africa (WA)
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REVIEW PAPER
Meeting the targets of the Paris Agreement: an analysis of renewable energy (RE) governance systems in West Africa (WA) Ishmael Ackah1 · Emmanuel Graham2 Received: 1 April 2020 / Accepted: 30 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Africa is at cross-roads. On the one hand, there are opportunities. The continent possess significant renewable energy potential. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that modern renewable energy potential amounts to 310 gigawatts (GW). This could provide half of the continent’s total electricity generation capacity. On the other hand, there are challenges, skepticism and cautions about energy transition induced -stranded assets and debates on alternative sources of revenues beyond oil. Whilst these dynamics have received attention in the energy transition literature, there is dearth of studies on energy governance and how it can help drive the transition. Therefore, based on a desktop review, the paper seeks to examine the renewable governance systems in West Africa, and the European Union (EU). The paper shows that whilst West Africa has renewable energy potential and some level of national energy governance structures, private sector investment is limited. Lack of transparency, power sector financial challenges, overdependence on donor funding and high interest rate may account for this. Though regional and sub-regional initiatives have been implemented to overcome some of these challenges, there is more room for improvement. Indeed, unlike the EU, most of the sub-regional and regional targets appear not to be mandatory and there are limited economic instruments to attract the private sector.
Introduction and background Africa struggles to meet the hydra-headed challenges of energy access, affordability and reliability despite improvements in North Africa and South Africa. The story is not different in most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa where several of the people are plagued with energy poverty with low amount of energy services which hinders economic activities on the continent (Quitzow et al. 2016b). Africa has an abundance of energy resources both renewable (Quitzow et al. 2016a; IRENA 2013) and non-renewable (Carmody 2011; Ovadia 2016; Yates 2012). More so, there is ongoing oil and gas exploration and productions despite the drop-in oil prices across the globe. In addition, at the regional level, issues such as climate change and sustainable development have * Emmanuel Graham [email protected] Ishmael Ackah [email protected] 1
Department of Economics, School of Liberal Arts and Social Science, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Accra, Ghana
Department of Politics, York University, Toronto, Canada
2
become relevant. In recognition of this, most African countries have signed on to a number of international conventions and protocols. Prominent among these are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement (PA), the Africa Union (AU)’s Agenda 2063, Africa Clean
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