(Agence Ecofin) – Little by little, the share of renewable energies in the global energy mix is increasing. In Africa, it is above all the use of biomass which means that the continent has a high share of renewables in its energy mix.
According to Energy Progress Report 2024, document produced by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and several other institutions, the global share of renewable energy sources in total final energy consumption (TFEC), including traditional uses of biomass, was by 18.7%, in 2021.
This share has remained relatively stable over the past three decades, slowly increasing in 2012-21 by 2.7 percentage points, mainly due to the accelerated deployment of renewable energy in the power sector.
However, when traditional uses of biomass are excluded, modern renewable sources accounted for only 12.5% of TFEC in 2021, according to the report, despite a doubling of consumption over the previous 15 years.
We also note that the trends differ depending on the end uses. The largest increase in the share of renewable energy continues in the electricity generation sector, while transport and heat only grow to a limited extent.
At the regional level, the report indicates that sub-Saharan Africa leads the regions where renewable energy makes up the largest share of energy supply, notably due to the widespread use of traditional biomass for heating and cooking .
However, when looking only at modern uses of renewable energy, Latin America and the Caribbean leads the way, with the largest share of renewable energy in the TFEC, due to hydroelectricity generation and consumption of bioenergy in industrial processes and biofuels for transport.
Abdullah Diop
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