It's TED Talks Daily. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Africa needs more energy. It's the fastest growing but least electrified continent on the globe. But climate change pressures require a major transition to clean energy sources. In her 2022 talk from Tech Countdown London session,

environmental researcher Rebecca Shirley shines a light on the local African enterprises

that are pointing the way to Africa's clean energy future. If they get the financial support

they need, after a short sponsor message. Africa is perhaps the continent that needs least convincing about the clean energy

opportunity for health, livelihoods and economy.

As the fastest growing yet least electrified continent on the globe, most in need of power

systems that can help fortify

against the onslaught of climate shocks,

and with both abundant fossil and renewable energy resources to build them,

Africa's energy transitions and how to dissuade the use of fossil fuels

have become an intense international debate.

But what the debates often miss is that Africa is not a single story.

As an energy systems modeler,

I can tell you that though the baseline is low,

where they do have power,

many sub-Saharan African countries already rely on low-carbon resources.

Kenya, where I live, generates 90% of its power from renewables,

like geothermal and hydropower. Even in West Africa, where renewable shares tend to be lower,

countries like Ghana generate over a third of their power from renewable energy resources,

and countries like Namibia are at the forefront of innovation

on clean fuels like green hydrogen.

Couple all of that with housing one of the world's largest carbon sinks, the Congo Basin,

...