Africa's Light Bulb Moment: and its Renewable

For too long, governments in Africa have subsidised inefficient and often corrupt energy utilities, following the outdated, high-carbon pathway the rich world has followed. This has kept costs high and failed to extend the benefits of electrification much beyond urban centres.

But Africa's energy deficit is not only a scandal. It also presents an enormous opportunity, and one that offers a triple dividend -- reducing poverty in Africa, promoting economic prosperity and safeguarding the sustainability of our planet.

Africa has an opportunity to lead the world, and leap to a totally renewable energy base, in the same way as the continent has leapfrogged from fixed-line telephony straight to mobile communications.

What does that opportunity look like? The Africa Progress Panel, of which we are both panel members, sets out the vision in its latest report, Power, People, Planet: Seizing Africa's Energy and Climate Opportunities.

Strive Masiyiwa and Bob Geldof recently wrote about this opportunity in the Huffington post. See the article here.