Research Projects

Over the past decade, the ‘just transition’ (JT) narrative has travelled from its origins in the international labour movement to become the formal framing of globally sanctioned pathways towards what the Preamble to the SDGs refers to as a “transformed” world. It is driven mainly by a desire to fuse together the environmental commitments to climate action (SDG 13) and affordable and clean energy (SDG 7) with the socio-economic commitments to end poverty (SDG 1) and reduce inequalities (SDG 10). This has major implications for the 54 countries that make up the African region, all of whom have submitted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) within the UNFCCC framework. This constitutes a major strategic opportunity for African countries because it effectively means aligning Africa’s traditional commitments to socio-economic development with the relatively new global commitments to climate action and decarbonization. This would mean aligning the African NDCs with what is now known as the Just Energy Transition (JET).

African countries need to seize this opportunity if they want to become relevant within the unfolding dynamics of the twenty-first century. The long-term outcome of the activities proposed in this proposal is a significant improvement in the capacity of African institutions to generate and deploy the funding required to accelerate the low-carbon development and transformation of Africa’s energy systems.

• The shorter-term objectives to achieve the long-term outcome described above are as follows:
  Objective 1: an accessible overview assessment of the capacity constraints in the African region for generating and deploying capital for low-carbon development and transformation in order to achieve the NDCs;
• Objective 2: based on at least four case studies of successful capacity building initiatives in the African region, produce a policy brief plus supportive learning materials that can be used to support proactive capacity building strategies by the project team, project partners and similar initiatives;
• Objective 3: produce a guideline handbook that can be used by funders and investors in future to assess capacity when making investment decisions, including a contact list for capacity building organisations on the continent.