Algeria seemed on track with its renewable energy transition. Like many north African countries, Algeria has experienced negative climate change impacts and recognises that there’s a global shift towards renewables that it too must follow. Already as early as 2010, the government announced it would green about a third of its energy mix by 2030, and launched a big solar and wind energy program. And then, Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and sent European countries scrambling for gas across the Mediterranean. Since then, billions of dollars have been pumped into oil and gas explorations in Algeria, with investments in the green energy field slowing in comparison. As fossil money continues to pour in, can Algiers find the will to stay focused on renewables?
Guests:
Achref Chibani is a journalist and prolific researcher focusing on energy and climate change and human rights in North Africa and the Middle East. He is currently a fellow at the European University Institute's School of Transnational Governance. His recent policy papers on Algeria's energy transition and on the future of hydrogen in the Gulf can be found here and here.
Radia Sedaoui is the Chief of the Energy Section at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) . Radia has taken part in several high-level panel discussions on renewable energy systems and is spearheading the UN's REGEND program, which aims to promote small scale renewable energy projects for the benefit of Arab women in rural communities. She was formerly a corporate leader at Sonatrach, Algeria's oil company.
Zine Labidine Ghebouli is a scholar on Algerian politics and Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. He is a fellow, past and present, with several top institutions, including the European Union Council on Foreign Relations and the Arab Reform Initiative. Zine's recent paper on Europe and Algeria's gas romance in the wake of the Ukraine war and his review of a post-Hirak Algeria are here and here.
Further readings:
https://www.mei.edu/publications/algeria-charts-path-renewable-energy-sector-development
https://www.unescwa.org/publications/energy-vulnerability-arab-region
https://www.unescwa.org/publications/progress-arab-region-decade-sustainable-energy