18
September 2025
Past Event
Africa in the Dark: The Cost of Misguided International Energy Policies

Event will also air live on this page.

 

 

Inquiries: tmagnuson@hudson.org.

Africa in the Dark: The Cost of Misguided International Energy Policies

Past Event
Hudson Institute
September 18, 2025
Getty Images
Caption
A drilling rig operated by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) on the shores of Lake Albert on March 12, 2025, in Kikuube, Uganda. (Getty Images)
18
September 2025
Past Event

Event will also air live on this page.

 

 

Inquiries: tmagnuson@hudson.org.

Speaker:
BS
Professor Brenda Shaffer

Faculty Member, US Naval Postgraduate School and Senior Fellow, Global Energy Center, Atlantic Council

Moderator:
zineb_riboua
Zineb Riboua

Research Fellow, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East

Listen to Event Audio

After decades of growth, global electricity access has hit a downturn in recent years, especially in Africa. Roughly half the population of sub-Saharan Africa still lacks electricity, limiting access to water and modern medicine and preventing the expansion of industry.

Yet international organizations like the International Energy Agency and the World Bank have prioritized reducing emissions over eliminating poverty. Many development agencies stopped granting loans or finance for projects that either produce fossil fuels or burn them to generate electricity. This has forced more sub-Saharan Africans to burn wood, dung, or biomass, sources that produce more emissions, pollution, and health risks than fossil fuels. The West’s refusal to fund fossil fuel energy in Africa has also created an opportunity for China to increase its influence on the continent.

Hudson’s Zineb Riboua will host Professor Brenda Shaffer, faculty member of the US Naval Postgraduate School and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, to discuss international energy policy shifts that can help address the challenge. 

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