Article Author: Mako Muzenda

We spoke with Reem Elsayed, an international health expert, about how climate change and health systems intersect in Africa. Some countries are doing better than others, but many are struggling with funding cuts, a high pre-existing burden of disease, and climate-vulnerable health infrastructure.

The launch of Mission 300 was heralded as a game-changer in regional efforts to enhance energy access in Africa. The initiative includes support for LNG projects as a transition fuel, which has raised concerns by civil society who are looking to see cleaner and more sustainable sources of energy in its stead. There are also questions around the concesionality of the finance provided and the extent country ownership over energy generation facilities.

In the wake of an extreme dry spell exacerbated by climate change, Zambia’s President Hichilema declared the drought a national disaster earlier this year. But is the country’s disaster management framework sufficiently robust, and is funding freed up by the hard-won debt-relief programme getting to the activities it needs to?

With 19 African countries due to hold general or presidential elections this year, the People’s Vote on Climate Change highlights key priorities that citizens are looking for their governments to address. There is broad support for a transition away from fossil fuels in African countries, and most wanted greater action to avoid extreme weather events.

Just Energy Transitions are not only for high emitting countries, they are also for countries with material extractives sectors, such as Zimbabwe. We interviewed Green Governance Africa’s Executive Director Nyasha Frank Mpahlo about the organisation’s work in Zimbabwe’s energy transition and their recent book on the topic.