OP-EDS, PERSPECTIVES, AND POLICY PUBLICATIONS

For more of my writing on energy, climate, tech, Africa, and other musings, check out out my Substack, Kibao.

2026

• Powering health with energy in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet Global Health. April 2026.

2025

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

• Africa’s EV Future: Five Things to Know. 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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

• 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.

• 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.

2023

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

• 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.

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

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.

• Who Decides Africa’s Net Zero Pathways? Five ways to fix how we model African energy transitions and why it matters for climate and development. Energy for Growth Hub. 17 October 2022.

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

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

2021

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

• 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.

• 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.

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

• 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.

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

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

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

2020

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

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

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

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

2019

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

2018

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

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

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