This programme champions a just green technology transition for Africa, addressing the climate crisis while promoting a just economic transformation. It centres African knowledge to research and foster policy dialogue to create a unique, equitable green future. Our work focuses on four interconnected pillars: informing and influencing policy through foresight and analysis, building robust innovation ecosystems, creating entrepreneurship and employment pathways, and shaping the global narratives
Senior Fellow and Head of Program
Fellow
The climate crisis, a burden African economies bear disproportionately, collides with urgent needs for development, energy access, and dignified livelihoods. Green technology offers solutions to these challenges, yet Africa lags in its development and adoption. Within this convergence lies a significant opportunity: to forge a uniquely African pathway towards a green technology future – one defined not merely by decarbonisation and jobs, but by justice and equity. As the world pursues a net zero future, African economies must do more than adapt and transition. They must imagine and define a just green technology transition that is rooted in their realities, knowledge systems, and aspirations.
This programme is dedicated to generating the critical research and fostering the transformative policy dialogues and partnerships needed to realise this African Just Green Technology Transition. To do this, we centre African knowledge systems and scholarship to understand the intricate interplay between technology innovation, policy landscapes, finance, markets, and social dynamics across diverse African contexts. We identify scalable pathways by pinpointing the most effective levers for accelerating the development, adoption, and scaling of African-appropriate green technologies. We hope to inform and influence policy with the concrete evidence and analysis required to craft enabling environments that de-risk innovation and attract investment.
Our work is anchored in four interconnected pillars:
We conduct forward-looking research to inform African strategies and co-design evidence-based policy options with African governments, think tanks, and regional blocs. We deep-dive into the effectiveness of existing policies (national, regional, continental), identifying regulatory barriers and enablers, and modelling the socio-economic impacts of potential policy interventions for green technology deployment and innovation.
We explore the design of enabling ecosystems—from public R&D policy to intellectual property regimes—that can incubate African solutions and support local green innovation at scale. We research the dynamics of Africa's green tech innovation landscape – actors, networks, funding flows, technology readiness, and market viability – to identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities for strategic intervention.
We investigate the job creation potential of specific green tech sectors; analyse barriers and success factors for green entrepreneurs (access to finance, skills mismatch, market access); map emerging green skills requirements; evaluate the impact of policies on green SME growth; and study models for inclusive value chain development within the green economy. We provide evidence-based pathways for maximising employment and entrepreneurial outcomes from the green transition.
We synthesise our research into actionable recommendations and actively engage in high-level dialogues. We contribute to national, continental and global governance conversations, policymakers, investors, industry leaders, and civil society – by translating evidence into effective policy and strategic action and promoting African policy perspectives on green technology development and sovereignty.
