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After Zambia’s Energy Regulation Board (ERB) refused to sign-off on a tariff increase, the government said alternative financing will be found to reduce the 20-hour blackouts caused by historically low levels of rainfall. State utility Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (Zesco) is facing a perfect storm, with its own generation output and export sales plummeting and public money in short supply as the government grapples with the impact of the drought and a longstanding debt crisis.

A big new investment in the clean cooking value chain adds to the momentum building behind efforts to tackle a major social and environmental issue across sub-Saharan Africa, while downstream giant Vivo has also completed its merger with Engen and is looking to expand its C&I power offering.

Ener-G-Africa has officially launched a biomass stove and cookware factory in Paarl, near Cape Town, giving impetus to efforts to promote green cooking in Africa.

Shortfalls in financial flows, failures to deal with debt and a lack of voice in global decision-making arenas are longstanding issues that African leaders are now seeking to address, with leaders from Ghana, Kenya and Zambia setting out a blueprint for reform covering everything from UN Security Council seats to the reallocation of $100bn-worth of assets held by the IMF. The extent to which these ambitious goals can be achieved could prove critical to Africa’s ability to finance and structure the energy transition on its terms – but the continent’s governments also need to accelerate their own reforms.

The final COP28 communiqué included – for the first time – a commitment to eventually phase out fossil fuels, going beyond previous declarations that focused on coal. However, there are few signs that Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members and their Opec+ allies, led by Russia, have any intention of allowing their core source of revenues to disappear anytime soon. So what can we learn from recent statements by oil producers – including Opec+’s quota commitments at a meeting on 30 November – and from leaks and comments made during COP28?

The COP28 climate talks in Dubai ended on a more positive note than many had thought possible, but for all the talk of eventually phasing out fossil fuels, multi-billions of dollars-worth of climate finance and operationalising the long-awaited Loss and Damage Fund, the crowds who descended on Dubai left with much to do and huge financial shortfalls to make up.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) was not the only national oil giant to lever its agenda into the climate discussions at COP28 in Dubai. Among the other interlopers was National Oil Corporation (NOC), whose chairman Farhat Bengdara told journalists that Libya will increase oil production from 1.2m b/d now to 2m b/d in the next three to five years.

Nearly all of South Africa’s climate finance is being provided from local sources, while inflows from international funders remain very low, a new Presidential Climate Commission report shows. While more funds have flowed into Africa’s largest greenhouse gas emitter in recent years, these resources remain insufficient compared to the extent of the actions required to adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The UAE has had to deal with some unwelcome scrutiny of its energy strategy after the COP28 climate conference opened in Dubai on 30 November. Observers had long warned that holding such an event in the world’s seventh largest oil producer was likely to lead to friction and so it has proved. African Energy’s sister publication Gulf States Newsletter (GSN) gives a view from the region, including a roundup of the big pledges made in a ‘transactional’ first week.

A series of increasingly high-profile and commercialised UN climate change summits has driven a global boom in climate finance, but Africa is being left behind as a result of poor infrastructure, weak governance and other issues. As discussions start at COP28 in Dubai, African Energy assesses the data and what needs to change if Africa is to hit its climate change targets.

It is going to be a challenging and busy COP for summit president Sultan Al-Jaber, but with an inaugural $420m capitalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund announced on the first day, the multi-tasking Emirati came out swinging against his critics. Al-Jaber’s role as chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has prompted allegations of a conflict of interest and abuse of COP for commercial, fossil fuel-related ends. But other agendas are afoot, and as COP has morphed into one of the world’s largest business conferences, the geopolitical horse-trading has further intensified.

Were projects assessed solely on their economic and social impact, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) and Lake Albert would probably be widely praised. Uganda needs both the energy and investment the projects bring. But the projects have drawn fierce criticism from environmental campaigners and NGOs, in Uganda and beyond in a concerted, high-profile campaign that has registered successes.

The World Bank has agreed to extend $1bn to South Africa to help the government’s energy security goals and the transition to a low carbon economy. The development policy loan is expected to help with restructuring of the power sector through the unbundling of state-owned power utility Eskom, as well as encouraging private investment in renewable energy.

Balanced on a financial tight-rope, the Egyptian government is still securing investment commitments for its green energy transition and has brought forward its renewables target by five years. London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is financing the first part of a $2bn programme of transmission upgrades and has named the first gas-fired generator to be shut under the scheme, while Maersk’s new C2X green methanol venture has picked Egypt for its first deal.

An FPSO vessel under construction at Malaysia’s Yinson Production yard is thought to be the first of its type to be fitted with a post-combustion carbon capture unit. It will be used on the Agogo field in Angola by BP/Eni joint venture Azule Energy .