Key points
- Legal experts say Africa’s clean energy transition risks repeating extractive patterns unless accountability becomes central to policy and investment decisions.
- They warned that investor-protection treaties and donor-driven energy initiatives often prioritise financiers over African governments and local communities.
- Export-oriented renewable energy projects, particularly green hydrogen, could deepen energy poverty if domestic access is not guaranteed.
- Participants called for reforms to investment treaties, stronger community protections and greater legislative oversight of energy transition agreements.
Main story
Africa’s transition to clean energy could reproduce the same inequalities associated with the fossil fuel economy unless governments strengthen accountability and place citizens at the centre of energy policy, legal experts and policy analysts have warned.
Speaking at a high-level policy session on regional energy governance in Gaborone, Botswana, participants argued that discussions around the just energy transition have focused heavily on financing and technology while paying insufficient attention to who is ultimately accountable for delivering equitable outcomes.
They said governments, multinational corporations, development finance institutions and international investors continue to make ambitious commitments on decarbonisation and energy access without establishing clear mechanisms to determine who is responsible for meeting those commitments, who they are accountable to and what consequences exist when promises are not fulfilled.
A major concern raised during the dialogue was the role of international investment law, particularly Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions embedded in more than 2,500 bilateral investment treaties.
Presenting a paper titled Promises Made, Promises Kept? The Case for Rigorous Just Transition Accountability in Regional Energy Initiatives, Director of the Africa Coalition for Sustainable Energy Access and the Just Transition Platform, Eugene Nforngwa, argued that the current system overwhelmingly protects investors while offering little protection to communities affected by energy projects.
He noted that fossil fuel companies have secured tens of billions of dollars through international arbitration while governments increasingly face costly legal disputes over climate policies, including coal phase-outs and energy subsidy reforms.
Building on that argument, Principal of Lex Navitas and the Just Transition Platform, Dr Tedd Moya, warned that similar legal protections are now extending into renewable energy, green hydrogen, critical minerals and carbon markets, raising concerns that Africa’s clean energy transition could become locked into another extractive development model.
The discussions also examined the rapid expansion of large-scale renewable energy projects across Africa, particularly green hydrogen developments and renewable energy export corridors.
Experts warned that many of the projects are designed primarily to serve industrialised markets in Europe rather than improve electricity access within Africa itself. According to presentations at the meeting, almost two-thirds of the continent’s proposed large-scale renewable energy capacity is linked to green hydrogen production, much of it intended for export.
Participants expressed concern that current legal frameworks do not require meaningful community consultation, domestic electricity guarantees or binding benefit-sharing arrangements before land and water resources are allocated to such projects.
They cautioned that renewable energy projects could fully comply with international investment standards while leaving neighbouring communities without reliable electricity.
The meeting also reviewed major regional and international initiatives, including Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs), Power Africa, Mission 300 and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP).
While acknowledging that the programmes have mobilised billions of dollars in financing and aim to expand electricity access across the continent, participants argued that their accountability systems remain largely focused on donor reporting rather than public oversight.
Mission 300, which seeks to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030, also came under scrutiny because many of its implementation frameworks rely on executive-led energy compacts designed in collaboration with multilateral development banks and philanthropic organisations.
Participants warned that governments could commit to far-reaching reforms involving electricity pricing, utility restructuring and private sector participation without sufficient parliamentary scrutiny or public consultation.
National Coordinator of the Nigeria Labour Congress Programme on Climate Change, Green Jobs and Just Transition, Echezona Asuzu, also questioned the transparency surrounding the selection of participating countries and the process used to determine reform priorities.
The issues
Africa possesses some of the world’s largest renewable energy resources but continues to have the largest electricity access deficit globally. As international demand grows for green hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels, experts fear the continent could once again become a supplier of energy exports while millions of Africans remain without affordable and reliable electricity.
They argued that the challenge is no longer simply attracting investment but ensuring that the legal, financial and governance systems surrounding the energy transition prioritise domestic development, community welfare and long-term accountability.
What’s being said
“The system has created a one-sided enforcement regime that strongly protects investors while offering limited or no remedy to affected communities.” — Eugene Nforngwa
“The legal frameworks are now being extended into renewable energy and emerging sectors such as green hydrogen, critical minerals and carbon markets.” — Dr Tedd Moya
What’s next
Participants called for a comprehensive overhaul of the legal framework governing Africa’s energy transition, including renegotiating investment treaties, introducing stronger climate and public-interest protections, requiring community consent and local benefit-sharing, and strengthening regional legal institutions to enforce accountability.
They also urged African governments to explore counterclaims against fossil fuel companies in international arbitration proceedings as part of efforts to rebalance existing legal arrangements.
Bottom line
Experts say Africa’s energy transition will only be “just” if it delivers affordable energy, protects communities and gives African governments and citizens greater control over how clean energy projects are designed, financed and governed.
