Politics of Energy Transitions in South Sudan: Who is Fooling Who?
Abstract
One of the critical themes in oil and gas industry is energy transition from fossil fuel to renewables. While energy transition is importance for any society progress, it has been politicized. The politics is about the genesis and speed of transitions. While African countries wanted to transit to renewables at their phases given that they don’t emit substantive emissions, Western countries wanted every country to transit fully to renewables by 2050. Yet, the Western countries are still carrying out exploration for new oilfields in the United Kingdom and Norway. The paper discuses the concept of energy transition, impacts of energy transition on extractive industries development in Africa. The paper in detail discusses economic impacts, social impacts as well as regulatory framework impacts. It examines South Sudan energy transition by looking at the obstacles as well as solutions to transition to renewables. While the study methodology embraces qualitative research design as well as case study of South Sudan, energy transition has remained as a complex matter where the Western world is fooling the developing world. Although energy transition is imperative, the study concludes that it must be just, progressive and free from coercion. Future research is hereby recommended to the stakeholders in oil and gas industry and particularly, those that have been associated with energy transition to adopt energy mix.
References
Boyle, G. (2018). Renewables Power for Sustainable Future. Oxford University Press.
Bulkeley, H et al. (2010). Cities and Low Carbon Transitions. Routledge.
Chol, J. (2016). The Reality of Petroleum Resource Curse in South Sudan: Can this be avoided? African Review Journal, Vol 43 (2): 17-50.
Deng, J. (2022). Privatization and Deregulation of Electricity Sector in South Sudan. International Journal of Strategic Energy and Environmental Planning. Vol 4 (1): 18-34.
Gatluak, D. (2024). Challenges of Electricity Access in South Sudan. Universal Printers.
Herberson, J. (2018). The Oil and Gas Industry, Low-Emissions Pathways and the Energy Transition. OIES Paper 121. Oxford University.
International Energy Agency (IEA). See https://www.energy.gov/ia/initiatives/international-energy-agency(Accessed on 15th August 2024).
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). See https://www.irena.org/energytransition (Accessed on 15th August 2024).
Leal-Arcas, et al. (2020). Energy Decentralization and Decarbonization. Natural Resources Journal, Vol 60 (1): 117-166.
Mozersky, D and Kammen, D. (2024). South Sudan’s Renewable Energy Potential: A Building Block for Peace. USIP.
Nalule, V and Mu, X. (2020). Should Countries Fire Sell their Oil and Gas Assets? Addressing the Misconceptions Surrounding the Continued Role of Fossil Fuels in the Energy Transition Era. The Journal of Sustainable Development, Law and Policy, Vol 11 (2): 432-440.
Nalule, V and Acheampong, T. (2021). Energy Transition Indicators in African Countries: Managing the possible Decline of Fossil Fuels and Tackling Energy Access Challenge. The Journal of Sustainable Development, Law and Policy, Vol 12 (1): 1-48.
Nalule, V. (2021). Energy Transitions and the Future of the African Energy Sector. Law, Policy and Governance. Palgrave Macmillan.
Nalule, V. (2020). Transitioning to a Low Carbon Economy: Is Africa Ready to Bid Farewell to Fossil Fuels? Handbook of Managing Fossil Fuels and Energy Transitions. Palgrave Macmillan.
Niamir, et al. (2018). Transition to Low Carbon Economy: Assessing Cumulative Impacts of Individual Behavioral Changes. Journal of Energy Policy, Vol 118 (1): 325-345
Olawuyi, D. (2018). Extractives Industry Law in Africa. Springer.
Painnly, J. (2001). Barriers to Renewable Penetration: A Framework for Analysis. Renewable Energy, 24 (1): 73-89.
Podobnik, B. (2020). Global Energy Shifts: Fostering Sustainability in a Turbulent Age. The Energy and Resources Institute. TERI Press.
Riak, J. (2024). The Petroleum Industry of South Sudan: Institutions, Trends, Legal Regimes and Leaderships. Virtue Books Publishers-Nairobi.
See https://www1.undp.org/content/oslo-governance-centre/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal -7-affordable-and-clean-energy.html (Accessed on 15th August 2024).
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Report, 2015
Wekesa, D. (2022). Access to Electricity in East African Community: Challenges and Opportunities. City Printers Arusha.
Wesley, A. (2020). The Net-Zero Transition: What it would cost what it could bring. McKinsey Global Institute.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
