Sustainable Bioenergy Transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa

The document argues that Sub-Saharan Africa's high dependence on traditional biomass, such as fuelwood and charcoal, leads to negative sustainability outcomes, including increased vulnerability to climate change and poverty. To transition toward modern bioenergy, the text proposes four strategies: strengthening linkages between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and bioenergy across sectors, developing context-specific markets rather than importing external models, increasing land productivity through integrated landscape approaches, and better integrating climate change mitigation with adaptation strategies.

• The current reliance on traditional biomass fuels, specifically fuelwood and charcoal, in Sub-Saharan Africa results in high land use intensity and poor energy services, which increases the vulnerability of rural communities to climate change and exacerbates poverty.
• Sustainable bioenergy transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa require four specific facilitators: cross-sectoral alignment with SDGs, the creation of markets based on local socio-economic and biophysical characteristics rather than foreign models, the adoption of integrated landscape approaches for efficient land use, and the strengthening of links between climate mitigation and adaptation.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2020). Sustainable Bioenergy Transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa. https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainable-bioenergy-transitions-in-sub-saharan-africa-climate-development/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Sustainable Bioenergy Transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2020. https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainable-bioenergy-transitions-in-sub-saharan-africa-climate-development/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Sustainable Bioenergy Transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa |date=9 October 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainable-bioenergy-transitions-in-sub-saharan-africa-climate-development/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2020sustainable, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Sustainable Bioenergy Transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainable-bioenergy-transitions-in-sub-saharan-africa-climate-development/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }