The Global South Law Research Network (GSLRN) spurred dialogue on Africa’s energy transition at a webinar hosted on 10th October 2025 by the South Africa-based Climate Disasters International Foundation, titled ‘The Energy Quadrilemma and the Role of Law in Solving the Energy-Climate Nexus.’ Presenting at the event were scholars from the University of Aberdeen’s School of Law, including Dr Eddy Wifa, (Senior Lecturer in Energy Law and Co-Convener, GSLRN), as well as Belema Ibim, and Tayo Gbemi, both Doctoral Researchers and Research Associates with the GSLRN. The event attracted youths and energy justice advocates from across Africa, who actively engaged in discussions on how law, governance, and innovative ownership models can advance a just and sustainable energy transition across the continent. The Network’s leadership in this dialogue underscored its continued commitment to advancing Global South perspectives in climate governance and energy justice.
African Perspectives to the Energy Quadrilemma
Dr Wifa began the discussion by explaining the concept of the energy quadrilemma, which is a framework that underscores the interlinked challenges of ensuring energy security, equity, sustainability, and social inclusion. He examined how these challenges manifest in the African context, where unreliable and unequal access to energy continues to hinder development goals. Comparing the current energy landscape to the ideals and objectives of the African Agenda 2063, he emphasised that, beyond economic approaches, resolving the quadrilemma requires more strategic legal and institutional interventions. Such measures, he argued, are necessary to ensure that energy security is integrated with equity and sustainability in a manner sensitive to the plights and aspirations of African communities. His analysis further informs the need to distinguish between oil-rich African countries that have failed to maximise revenue from oil and those that are emerging oil states. He argued that such oil-rich states should transition quickly in their own interest.
Law, Climate Change, and the Energy Transition
Belema explored the link between climate change, energy transition, and the role of law. She highlighted how climate impacts on health, biodiversity, and livelihoods are disproportionately felt in African countries, and argued that the law must serve as a bridge between competing priorities. She noted that legal systems can help balance climate mitigation, adaptation, and social justice by ensuring that land, water, and energy governance frameworks reflect the needs of both human and non-human entities. She concluded by positing that law remains the central tool for creating coherence and accountability in the transition process.
Law as a Driver for Energy Ownership Decentralisation
Focusing on Energy Ownership Decentralisation, Tayo explained that Africa’s energy systems remain highly centralised, extractive, and typically dominated by foreign utilities and large energy companies. As a result of this top-down structure, around 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity. Moreover, many emerging renewable energy projects are replicating the ownership patterns of fossil fuel systems, often falling short of delivering tangible benefits to local communities. Tayo argued that legal, policy, and institutional reforms at both regional and national levels, backed by strong political will, are essential for expanding community-owned and shared energy models. She emphasised that these models are vital for addressing the energy quadrilemma, particularly in rural African contexts, where access and equity challenges are most pronounced.
Concluding Reflections
At the event, there was a consensus that achieving Africa’s desired energy future will require a substantial departure from the old extractive models of energy governance, ownership, and environmental practices. A truly just transition in the African context must be founded on who owns, governs, and benefits from energy infrastructure. As the continent seeks to close its electricity gap and address the climate crisis in line with global targets, the legal landscape must ensure that communities are not only passive recipients of electricity supply but active players in energy systems and beneficiaries therefrom. Inclusive legal frameworks and community ownership are thus not peripheral to Africa’s development agenda, but central to retaining sovereignty, promoting equity, and enhancing climate resilience in the energy transition.
The GSLRN remains committed to advancing these dialogues and driving multidisciplinary research that facilitates legal reform and supports Africa’s sustainable development.
