Index

This page is an evolving attempt to bring coherence to my body of work at the intersection of emerging science, technology, and African societies. It consolidates writing, media, talks, and projects across diverse platforms into a single, searchable index for continuity and ease of reference.

Thanks to support from Open Philanthropy, I am developing this as part of an experimental Living Literature Review—a continuously updated, accessible synthesis of ideas and evidence. The goal is not only to expand my own thought leadership, but also to organize it into a structure that can serve others navigating where science and technology meet Africa’s future.

This is very much a work in progress. The categories may shift, the framing will evolve, and new content will be added over time as I refine ways to link these pieces into a more coherent whole. With additional resources, I hope to eventually move this from its current static form to a more dynamic, searchable format.

NB: I’m only capturing work from 2018 and onwards.

+++

(1) AI & Digital Transformation in Africa

• Navigating AI’s Uncertain Future in Africa. re:publica 25 Berlin. 27 May 2025 (From minute 20:45)

• Beyond the binary: Navigating AI’s uncertain future in Africa. Science. 3 April 2025.

• Power hungry AI could be an opportunity for Africa. Kibao Substack. 10 September 2024.

• Do we have enough energy to power AI? The Inquiry, BBC World Service. 27 June 2024. (Also available on podcast platforms)

• AI in Africa: Basics Over Buzz. Science. 28 March 2024.

• Three Steps to Unlock the Potential of AI in Africa. Energy for Growth Hub. 28 March 2024.

• Cabling Africa: the great data race to serve the ‘last billion’. Financial Times. 31 January 2021.

• Powering Africa’s Data Infrastructure: No Power, No Digital Transformation. Energy for Growth Hub. 5 January 2021.

• Why Hasn’t Africa Gone Digital? Scientific American. 11 August 2020.

(2) Africa’s Solar Revolution

• Will there be a solar boom in Africa? The Climate Question, BBC World Service. 7 September 2025. (Also available on podcast platforms)

• No Subsidies, No Problem: The Organic Rise of Distributed Solar in Sub-Saharan Africa. Energy for Growth Hub. 2 May 2025.

• Wind and Solar in Africa Need Grids to Match. Electricity Journal. July 2021

(3) Africa’s Electric Vehicle (EV)Transition

• Soaring oil prices may accelerate global green energy transition. Context. 8 July 2025.

• Ethiopia’s EV Growth. Semafor. 26 June 2025.

• Africa’s EV Future: Five Things to Know. Energy for Growth Hub. 24 June 2025.

• 2025 Update: Africa EV Readiness and Impact Index. Energy for Growth Hub. 24 June 2025.

• Ethiopia’s EV Pivot: How One of Africa’s Least Motorized Countries Became Its Most Electrified. Energy for Growth Hub. 23 June 2025.

• Africa’s Driving Boom. Semafor. 6 March 2025.

• Africa’s Vehicle Fleet Could Double by 2050: What Does this Mean for EVs? Energy for Growth Hub. 3 March 2025.

• Who in Africa Is Ready for EVs? Kibao Substack. 28 October 2024.

• Who in Africa Is Ready for EVs? Energy for Growth Hub. 23 October 2024.

• Africa’s EV Readiness. Semafor. 2 August 2024.

• Mapping Africa’s EV revolution. Science. 25 July 2024.

• Charting Africa’s EV Future: Key Takeaways (and a few surprises!) from our new Africa EV Readiness and Impact Index. Energy for Growth Hub. 25 July 2024.

• Africa EV Readiness and Impact Index. Energy for Growth Hub. 25 July 2024.

• How to bring EVs to Africa. Quartz. 25 May 2022.

• Kenya Power should rethink strategy on electric vehicles. The Standard. 14 February 2022.

• Africa’s EV revolution will roll in on two wheels, not four. Quartz. 21 January 2022.

• Is sub-Saharan Africa ready for the electric vehicle revolution? World Economic Forum. 7 December 2018.

(4) Africa’s Energy Transition & Climate Justice

• Energy Transition in Africa and its Climate Dilemma. Energy vs Climate podcast. 13 June 2025.

• New Initiative To Accelerate African-Led Energy Transition Launched During COP29. Rockefeller Foundation. 15 November 2024.

• COP’s Divider In Chief. Politico. 14 November 2024. (African Energy Futures Initiative project)

• African energy transitions should be driven from the ground up. Science. 24 November 2023.

• Who is Driving Africa’s Energy Future? How to Fix Africa’s Broken Energy Transition Planning Ecosystems. Energy for Growth Hub. 22 November 2023.

• Rose Mutiso McGuire Prize Acceptance Speech: Reframing the Debate on Africa’s Energy Future. 14 November 2023.

• Facing the New Reality: Climate Week NYC Opening Ceremony 2023. The Climate Group. 17 September 2023.

• Generating Meaningful Energy Systems Models for Africa. Issues in Science and Technology. 19 June 2023.

• Rose Mutiso discusses Africa’s energy transition. British International Investment. 16 December 2022.

• Hub vs Hub: The debate over development finance for natural gas is messy. Here are two pragmatic solutions. Energy for Growth Hub. 7 November 2022.

• Net-zero plans exclude Africa. Nature. 2 November 2022.

• A global transition: from China to Sub-Saharan Africa. Inside the Energy Transition. 27 April 2022.

• West accused of ‘climate hypocrisy’ as emissions dwarf those of poor countries. The Guardian. 28 January 2022.

• What Will ‘Net Zero’ Mean for Africa? We aim to find out. Energy for Growth Hub. 20 December 2021.

• Reframing Climate Justice for Development: Six principles for supporting inclusive and equitable energy transitions in low-emitting energy-poor African countries. Energy for Growth Hub. 28 September 2021.

• Sub-Saharan Africa needs fair access to global carbon budget. World Economic Forum. 22 March 2021.

• The energy Africa needs to develop—and fight climate change. TED. 13 October 2020.

• The Global Energy Challenge: The ‘New Normal'. CNN. 16 July 2020.

• How to bring affordable, sustainable electricity to Africa. TED. 1 July 2019.

(5) Africa’s Power Sector

• A Zombie-Free Recovery of Africa’s Energy Sector. Into Africa Podcast by CSIS. 1 October 2020.

• A post-COVID agenda for a ‘zombie-free’ recovery of Africa’s Power Markets. SE4All. 21 July 2020.

• Q&A: The future of Africa’s power sector. Africa Portal. 3 April 2020.

• Our latest thoughts on Kenya’s power sector challenges. Energy for Growth Hub. 7 February 2020.

• The Seven Major Threats to Kenya’s Power Sector. Energy for Growth Hub. 26 September 2018.

(6) Climate Change

• Stop Trying to Save the World (please). Kibao Substack. 22 September 2025.

• The Danger of Abstraction: From Climate Discourse to the Federal Workforce. Kibao Substack. 5 March 2025.

• Should Poor Countries Quit the COP Process? Kibao Substack. 8 January 2025.

• Review of the Year 2024. The Climate Question, BBC World Service. 29 December 2024. (Also available on podcast platforms)

• Quiz of the Year 2024. The Climate Question, BBC World Service. 22 December 2024. (Also available on podcast platforms)

• What is Climate Change? The Climate Question. BBC World Service. 16 August 2023. (Also available on podcast platforms)

• Air-Conditioning Should Be a Human Right in the Climate Crisis. Scientific American. 10 May 2022.

• The energy Africa needs to develop—and fight climate change. TED. 13 October 2020.

• How to bring affordable, sustainable electricity to Africa. TED. 1 July 2019.

(7) Climate Intervention and Geoengineering

• Fitting SRM into the wider landscape. Degrees Global Forum. 14 may 2025 (From minute 14:40)

• Solar Geoengineering: The Global South’s Stake in a High-Stakes Debate. Kibao Substack. 2 December 2024.

• Neither climate laboratory nor knowledge vacuum: What’s at stake for the Global South in the debate around solar geoengineering research. Science. 28 November 2024.

(8) Critical Minerals

• When the same extractive model is strategic in Australia but exploitative in Africa. Kibao Substack. 22 May 2025.

(9) Development Policy & Foreign Aid

• Why Growth, Not Aid, Should Be the New Africa Strategy. Kibao Substack. 1 May 2025.

• A Candid Conversation About Foreign Aid. Kibao Substack. 31 March 2025.

• Can the Policy Community Make Fun of Itself? Kibao Substack. 28 June 2024.

• Afrofuturism for Policy Wonks. Kibao Substack. 11 June 2024.

(10) Energy & Climate Diplomacy

• The trouble with Kenya’s climate strategy. Semafor. 24 May 2024.

• Kenya’s Promotion to the Big Leagues: What to expect on climate and energy ahead of President Ruto’s State Visit. Energy for Growth Hub. 7 May 2024.

• Where Are Africa’s Experts at COP? Energy for Growth Hub. 6 December 2023.

• Climate hypocrisy and underrepresentation of African experts at COP28. BBC Newsnight. 29 November 2023.

• What can we expect from COP27? BBC Newsnight. 2 November 2022.

• What did COP26 deliver for energy poor nations? Our five Big Takeaways. 12 November 2021.

• COP26: What African climate experts want you to know. BBC News. 6 November 2021.

(11) Energy Efficiency

• Can we save money and save the planet? The Climate Question, BBC World Service. 5 May 2024. (Also available on podcast platforms)

(12) Energy Poverty

• Make Electrons Generic Again (MEGA). Kibao Substack. 3 October 2025.

• Kenya More Than Doubled Electricity Access Over A Decade. Forbes. 9 May 2025.

• Choice and Agency in Energy Access. Kibao Substack. 16 October 2024.

• Rose Mutiso: How to End Energy Poverty in Africa. Good Clean Energy Podcast. 8 February 2023.

• Raising Global Energy Ambitions: The 1,000 kWh Modern Energy Minimum. Energy for Growth Hub. 26 January 2021.

• The energy Africa needs to develop—and fight climate change. TED. 13 October 2020.

• How to bring affordable, sustainable electricity to Africa. TED. 1 July 2019.

(13) Green Hydrogen

• African Hydrogen Projects Tracker. Energy for Growth Hub. 10 June 2024.

(14) Leapfrogging & Technology Pathways

• Five rules for technology leapfrogging in Africa. Science. 31 July 2025.

• Side-stepping, not leapfrogging: Africa’s cleantech innovation paradox. Cipher News. 3 February 2025.

(15) Science & Tech Miscellaneous

• The Danger of Abstraction: From Climate Discourse to the Federal Workforce. Kibao Substack. 5 March 2025.

• Why Trump's Attack on Science Funding Could Backfire. Kibao Substack. 26 February 2025.

• Physicists Are Tackling Renewable Energy Projects to Bolster Africa's Energy Future. APS News. 12 September 2024.

• A Skeptic’s Guide to Tech Hype. Kibao Substack. 12 June 2024.

• Welcome to the Future: Robot Friends, Fusion Energy, Pet Dinosaurs, and More! 30 November 2021. (featured expert)

• 2019 Africa Science Week-Kenya Compilation Video. Mawazo Institute/Next Einstein Forum. 11 February 2020.

• 2018 Africa Science Week-Kenya Preview. Mawazo Institute. 2 December 2018.

• 2018 Faces of Kenyan Science. Mawazo Institute. 2 December 2018.

• Science Kibao Kenya: Greatest Hits Vol. 1. Mawazo Institute. December 2018.

• Rose Mutiso - MC for Nairobi Ideas Night. Mawazo Institute. 18 May 2018.

• Africa cultivates innovation to boost global reach. Science Magazine. 30 April 2018.

• Often Sidelined by Western Journals, African Scientists Get Their Own Peer-reviewed Publication. CBC Radio. 11 April 2018.

• Africa's unsung scientists finally get their own journal to spread research. The Guardian. 10 April 2018.

• Overcoming Barriers, African Scientists Creating Award-winning Innovations. Voice of America. 2 April 2018.

• Challenges and Opportunities for African Scientists. BBC News (Kiswahili). 27 March 2018.

• Launch of new African Science Journal. BBC World Service Newshour. March 2018.

(16) US-Africa Cooperation

• Marco Rubio: What part is he actually playing in USAID's dismantling? Devex. 8 April 2025.

• What does Trump’s win mean for the energy transition? We asked these 7 experts. Cipher News. 7 November 2024.

• U.S. Push for a Global Clean Energy Transition Can Start in Africa. Council on Foreign Relations. 28 May 2021.

• The Biden Climate Finance Plan: What’s great and what we’re watching closely. Energy for Growth Hub. 28 April 2021.

• 10 Recommendations to enhance Power Africa’s impact on energy poverty, economic development, and climate change. Energy for Growth Hub. 24 March 2021.

(17) Women & Diversity in STEM and related fields

• Women In Engineering: Climate Impact And The Call For More Equity. Forbes. 23 June 2025.

• The female future of science in Africa. Mawazo Institute/BBC Storyworks. 29 November 2021.

• Let’s make room for more girls and women in science. Business Daily Africa. 12 February 2020.

• Women in Science Leadership Breakfast: 2019 Africa Science Week-Kenya. Mawazo Institute/Next Einstein Forum. 11 February 2020.

• Empowering new scientific voices. Physics World. 17 December 2019.

• Talents Round Trip: The Mobility of African Scientists Can be Translated into Development. El Periodico. 16 February 2019.

• Rose Mutiso ‘Reclaiming the meaning of women who think.’ Bright Club Ireland. 7 January 2019.

(18) Rose Mutiso Awards & Recognition

• Rose Mutiso wins the 2025 Erna Hamburger Award. EPFL News. 2 October 2025.

• Rose Mutiso's Path to Impact. Dartmouth Engineer. 21 May 2024.

• Driving a Sustainable Future Through Empowered Frontline Communities. Rockefeller Foundation. 20 March 2024.

• Our editors’ favorite commentaries, opinions, and reviews of 2023. Science. 26 December 2023.

• Rose Mutiso Reshapes Energy Inequality Solutions with African Perspectives. Energy for Growth Hub. 1 May 2023.

• Rose Mutiso ’08 Wins Second Annual McGuire Prize. Dartmouth News. 12 April 2023.

• Rose Mutiso named “Kenya’s Best Communicator (research)”. Daily Nation. 6 January 2022.

• Rose Mutiso named as one of Apolitical’s 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy. April 2021.

• Rose Mutiso, the Kenyan Who Opens the Doors of Physics to the General Public. Le Monde. 23 November 2019.

• Alumni Portrait: Rose Mutiso '08 Th'08. Dartmouth Engineering. 18 February 2019.