UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that Africa and other developing regions risk being left behind in the global shift to clean energy unless urgent financial reforms are enacted.
In an op-ed published on July 23, 2025, he stressed that despite Africa holding 60% of the world’s best solar resources, the continent attracted just 2% of global renewable energy investment in 2024, largely due to heavy debt burdens draining resources from essential infrastructure.
Guterres called on multilateral development banks to expand their lending capacity and adopt modern risk assessment tools that better reflect clean energy potential and the risks of stranded fossil fuel assets. He also identified trade policy as a key enabler of the transition, urging the removal of tariffs on clean energy technologies, the diversification of supply chains, and the revision of investment treaties to foster stronger cross-border cooperation.