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The worst climate drought in 50 years hammered the entire southern Africa region of countries Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe throughout 2024. The heat dried up crucial riverways and dams that complement thermal coal power stations to produce electricity for millions of homes, factories, and schools.  But in good and bad times, Malawi, like most African nations, faces a series of dilemmas. It doesn't matter much whether they produce lots of clean solar,

Shoza and a dozen women in her drivers' club work from Kagera Centre in Kagera, which is one of Tanzania's poorest rural administrative regions. They drive around, operating Chinese-made but locally improvised EV three-wheelers that transport everything from packets of noodles to pregnant mothers and medicines across rural Tanzania. 

Electric vehicles (EVs) offer more than just a sleek, modern ride as they begin to replace traditional combustion engines on Thailand’s roads. This shift signals a powerful response to the country’s air pollution crisis, a bold step toward lowering carbon emissions, while encouraging technological innovation across Southeast Asia. From electric tuk-tuks weaving through traffic-choked alleys to cutting-edge factories churning out battery-powered exports, Thailand's embrace of

However, buoyed by low-cost solar-powered water pumps—also known as photovoltaic water pumping systems—some innovative small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe are now able to irrigate their crops and eliminate the need for rain-fed agriculture. According to experts, the use of solar energy to power groundwater pumps by farmers in drought-ridden, off-grid regions in Africa and elsewhere has been heralded as potentially revolutionary.

As Southeast Asia’s energy demand is projected to more than double by 2050, the region faces a critical choice: build bigger, faster, and cheaper, or build smarter, fairer, and greener. The ASEAN Power Grid (APG) is a key cornerstone of this transition. It promises technical and economic gains for the region, serving as Southeast Asia's strategy for greater regional integration, energy security, economic growth, and achieving a sustainable, low-carbon future. 

Artificial intelligence is surging into every corner of modern life, and data centres are emerging as the backbone of this transformation. But as governments and corporations race to build this infrastructure, requiring vast amounts of electricity, water, land, and critical minerals, the key question becomes: where, and how, should it be built? 

Despite solar representing the cheapest form of electricity in Thailand since 2022, the roadblocks to solar having a substantial share of Thailand's energy matrix remain prevalent. This is particularly surprising because these solar projects, even when incorporated with batteries, represent a more economic alternative to thermal plants. A report from BloombergNEF found that a solar project with 4 hours of storage will be able to compete with existing thermal power plants this

As decarbonization becomes a global catchphrase, Zimbabwe has become a vital supplier of critical lithium ore and several platinum group metals that are key to the green transition. According to the Supply Chain Intelligence for the Energy Intelligence, Zimbabwe is the fourth largest producer of lithium mined globally.  But in Magunje, western Zimbabwe, the remnants of indigenous Zimbabweans displaced by colonial dams' construction 100 years ago are enduring a new wave of fo

On paper, Africa is poised to become a key supplier of green hydrogen, and the EU wants in on the continent's repository of this decarbonization fuel early. Of the 52 countries across Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Namibia have moved fast to organize themselves into a grouping called the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance. 

Without a unified approach under the ISA, deep-sea mining risks becoming an unregulated venture, threatening a fragile ecosystem, and releasing stored carbon. The unknown environmental impacts of deep-sea mining require a multilateral approach.

With innovative financing for clean energy like the Ilute solar project, the future looks bright for the expansion of solar energy in Zambia. However, it remains to be seen whether such a financing structure will be replicated in other African countries. Only time will tell.

Though South Africa's switch to renewable energy sources is the most advanced across sub-Saharan Africa in terms of grid expansion, power generation, and job creation, the country doesn't yet have a significant domestic industry that can meet the advancing needs for renewable energy, argues Tapiwa O'Brien Nhachi, consultant at the regional Institute Law and Development, and critic of how climate carbon credits mechanism in Africa.