A report launched today at COP27 claims that the push to transition to e-mobility in the Global North risks some African low-income countries (LICs) being left behind. It explains that e-mobility is emerging as a dominant model to decarbonize road transport in the Global North, but this may not be the only pathway, particularly in the short-term, for the Global South and especially for LICs in Africa.
E-mobility in Low-Income Countries in Africa: Finance, Governance, and Equity concludes that transitioning to low-carbon transport needs to be considered in light of other transport and development goals, including access for all, efficiency, and safety. In the Global South, accessibility to transport infrastructure and services, affordability, road traffic congestion, air and noise pollution, safety, and system efficiency remain key development challenges.
The discussion paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the just transition toward sustainable mobility in the Global South. It was prepared by a joint team under the umbrella of the Sustainable Mobility for All (SuM4ALL) Partnership with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Climate Compatible Growth (CCG) and the High Volume Transport Applied Research Programme (HVT).
A second SuM4All paper was also launched today at COP27 that further explores the opportunities and challenges that e-mobility encounters in LICs. Electromobility and Renewable Electricity: Developing Infrastructure for Synergies highlights that while electrification of transport is a central pillar of the much-need emission reductions in the transport sector, it will require substantial scaling up of renewable electricity.
The three articles presented in the paper address the relevance of sector modelling to inform long-term strategies for decarbonizing energy and transport; the opportunities of integrating road transport electrification and the development of renewable electricity; and the potential synergies between railway electrification and grid expansion. They illustrate examples from Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Both reports will be presented at a side-event session at COP27 that is part of five days of sessions organised by the Climate Compatible Growth Programme with partners including HVT.
The session Role of e-mobility in Africa: Towards an inclusive low carbon transition is chaired by Mark Howells from CCG, with presentations of the papers from Mark and Yacob Mulugetta of University College London. This is then followed by a panel discussion with Mohamed Hegazy, UNFCCC Champion Transport; Jochen Renger, GIZ; Maruxa Cardama, SLOCAT; Nancy Vandyke, SUM4ALL; Charlène Kouassi,, Movin’On LAB Africaand Francis Romano, Knights and Apps.
The event can be joined online at 16.00 UTC +2 here.