Electricity outages delay SDGs in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

<p>With less than seven years to attain the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sub-Saharan Africa is falling seriously behind where it should be, mainly because of poor electricity access and longer, increasingly frequent outages. Surprisingly, a stable power supply is not specified in the goal to ensure access to clean and affordable energy (SDG 7), but it affects almost all the goals.</p><p>Countries that rely heavily on hydropower (such as Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia) face interruptions from extreme weather. South Africa has outages almost daily. These reduce companies’ revenues and could diminish sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product by 2.1% (<a href="https://doi-org.eproxy.lib.hku.hk/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.05.003">M. A. Cole <em>et al. J. Dev. Econ.</em> <strong>134</strong>, 150–159; 2018</a>). This affects achievement of the goals for economic growth (SDG 8) and sustainable development (SDG 9).</p><p>Unstable electricity also contributes to poverty (SDG 1)and hunger (SDG 2) because it increases unemployment, particularly in the non-agricultural sector. It disrupts health services (SDG 3) and schooling (SDG 4), both of which are basic human rights (SDG 10). Moreover, the use of back-up diesel generators increases carbon emissions (<a href="https://www-nature-com.eproxy.lib.hku.hk/articles/s41893-018-0151-8">D. Farquharson <em>et al. Nature Sustain.</em> <strong>1</strong>, 589–597; 2018</a>), in violation of SDGs 12–15.</p><p>The region therefore urgently needs a tailored and resilient energy-supply plan. International aid can help with implementation (SDG 16 and 17).</p>