Why would Madagascar care about the energy transition when three-fourths of the population live beneath the international poverty line of $1.90 per day[1] as of 2019 – exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and food crisis, 16.4% electricity access rate in 2020[2] of which 13% in rural areas[3] where 80.7% of the population live, urban areas having long suffered from electricity outages and unstable energy supply, and needless to say the country is only responsible for 0.01% of global emissions.

Transition literally means moving from state A – using conventional energy sources – to state B – making use of low-carbon energy sources. Therein lies the question, how can a country transition from a barely existing state. Some – particularly the oil giants who stand to lose from this dispute – might argue that we should not be distracted by all the energy transition noise for these reasons and that we should keep using conventional energy sources to fuel development, the way developed countries moved through the industrial revolution to get to the current state.

Indeed, it would sound almost colonial to prevent LDCs from reaching the same stage through the same method under the pretext of climate change. Nevertheless, simply looking back at the first quarter of 2022, there has been no less than 5 deadly and distressing episodes of cyclones and storms. The country is indeed bearing the brunt of climate change, and it would be ridiculous to want to contribute further to our own drowning knowing the aspatial nature of climate change and its effects.

Having said that, we do need to decarbonize our energy sector, but it must be part of a real development agenda.

• A long-term and integrated energy planning designed in a coherent way and considering the integration of different technologies. Madagascar has significant untapped renewable energy resources of hydro, solar, wind and biomass. Such planning must encompass all levels of energy access, from households to productive and community uses, all types – whether for electricity, cooking or mechanical power, and all feasible and economically suitable combinations of configurations, including grid-connected systems, decentralized ones – whether mini-grids or stand-alone arrangements. This should result not only in the measurement of increased megawatts, but also of all development indicators including education, gender, health and sanitation, etc.

• Providing power to people without creating economic activities is not helping much. Finding a way to raise the standard of living of communities would help sustain operators’ business model. Thus, the productive use of energy should be central to stimulating demand and development.

• As long as there is a mismatch between the short-term motives of politicians and the long-term vision required to frame energy policy, it will be tough to establish a sustainable and bankable ecosystem. However, it is almost impossible to detach the energy sector from politics. It is an industry that needs a regulatory framework to develop and attract investment into the sector. Enabling factors should be put in place to give rise to well-structured projects with attractive risk-return profiles, for the rollout of clean energy sources.

• Today, the challenge is no longer technological, thanks to the progress made being replicable from one region to another. The main obstacle to the development of sustainable energy is mainly financial. The island's energy sector is simply not perceived as a bankable environment, in the broadest sense of the word, to attract various investor profiles. An overwhelming share of investment in renewables in Africa is concentrated in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco and Kenya between 2010 and 2020 as a result of enabling policies and financing mechanisms[4]. Hence the widespread recognition of the crucial role of African development banks in LDCs like Madagascar to catalyze private capital. It is high time the government acknowledged the need for a dedicated facility to finance sustainable energy access in Madagascar.

Finally, support from international community in terms of know-how and resources is unavoidable. The international community must contribute substantially to the achievement of SDG7 by 2030. All it takes is real leadership at the helm to fully realize that clean and affordable energy for Madagascar is the engine of development and would trigger the achievement of the other Sustainable Development Goals.

[1] The World Bank

[2] Système d’Information Energétique de Madagascar

[3] ADER

[4] IRENA (2022), Renewable Energy Market Analysis: Africa and its Regions

The full article is published in the 14the edition of The American magazine that is available for download in PDF format here.