Energy is an enabler for all facets of sustainability

Wuppertal professor Philipp Trotter researches sustainable energy planning in Africa

"I became interested in social inequality very early on," says Philipp Trotter, Professor of Substainability Management in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Wuppertal. At the age of 18, he first experienced the differences between German and West African living standards on a trip to Ghana, which had a huge impact on him and has preoccupied him ever since. Trotter studied energy technology with the desire to do something about climate change and says: "At some point, I had the idea that I could combine the two things and apply my knowledge of energy technology to the situation in Africa, because there are huge problems there. 600 million people in Africa still have no access to electricity. Working on this spurs me on every day."

Recognising social inequality

Trotter grew up with three brothers with his single mother in financially difficult circumstances and says: "I have seen that in Germany, even if you grow up in simpler and non-academic circumstances, you still have many opportunities and structures to develop yourself. There are scholarships, there is BAföG/student finance services, there is free education, both grammar school education and university education, i.e. if you were lucky enough to be born in Germany, you can make up for all that despite structural disadvantages. This is not the case in the majority of countries in the world." During his visits to African countries, he experienced global inequality time and time again. "In terms of energy, 600 million people in Africa don't have access to a clean way of cooking, and around 1.1 million people die every year from air pollution. That's more than malaria and AIDS combined. Most of this pollution comes from burning fossil fuels. So people are exposed to these substances indoors and develop cancer and lung diseases." Environmentally sustainable solutions therefore need to be found in the energy system. If people could cook with solar or electricity, fewer forests would be cut down and social and environmental goals would be achieved. "Energy is often an enabler for all facets of sustainability."

Substainability management

In Wuppertal, the junior professor heads the Chair of Substainability Management. "My professorship deals with the fact that companies need to do business differently if we don't want to hinder the ability of future generations to realise their needs. We currently live in a world that consumes resources far too quickly and neither operates sustainably nor lives sustainably. This is already causing problems for many sections of the population here, but especially in developing countries," says the scientist. These problems will also increasingly affect us in the near future, he continues, referring to the latest reports on the flood disaster in Spain. "My professorship deals with attempts to find solutions that enable a rethink in economic sectors. We have to do it differently! And the question is: how can the use of resources, CO2 emissions and social interaction be organised in a way that is sustainable for everyone?"

Sustainability through close collaboration

Managing a company sustainably is undoubtedly more complex than simply striving to maximise profits, Trotter states matter-of-factly, because management always has to think about how to invest in order to generate as much money as possible. "The problem when I look at sustainability is that social goals and environmental goals are added to these ecological goals, and they can also contradict each other. I have conflicting goals and, no matter how big the company is, I am limited in my power to achieve social and environmental goals. That doesn't work. So I have to think much more broadly, think in networks." This means you have to think along a supply chain, think about the users of the products and about politics, you have to think about global connections and also about the environment. "So if I want to have an impact on sustainability, it only works through collaboration and the idea of networking. I always have conflicting goals and have to work with many more stakeholders," explains the expert.

Imbalance between the north and south of the continent

When it comes to sustainability, there is a major imbalance between the African South and the African North. "That's true," says Trotter spontaneously, "even in neighbouring countries. When I look at Botswana and Zimbabwe, it's like night and day. Zimbabwe is a very poor, run-down country. The people have a very low life expectancy, whereas Botswana is geographically similar but much richer, much better off. The life expectancy of the population there is also much higher." The causes are very complex, the structures are individual, so you have to look at each country separately. From a global perspective, it can be said that there are institutional, structural problems and institutions need to be created that are strong enough to distribute resources such as renewable energies or natural resources across the board. Another challenge is the financial system. Trotter explains: "The problem in many African countries is that the cost of capital is extremely high and investors see investments as very risky. It's different in the north of Africa. It is easier to get money for investments there. If you take a very fundamental approach, education is of course a huge issue. I have a very young society there and massive education programmes need to be put in place so that the great potential of this young continent can be used to be productive."

Energy planning in Africa - lack of long-term planning studies

There are various hurdles to implementing long-term energy planning in Africa. "There are a few countries that are already doing this very well," says Trotter, "South Africa is one of them. The planning capacities there are very good. They do have major problems with their energy sector, there's no question about that, there are sometimes complete power cuts for several hours a day, but these are planned power cuts because there is simply not enough capacity. But the analytical ability and social discourse are there to identify and tackle these problems." The situation is very different in Mali or Niger, for example, where the intellectual capacity and institutions to carry out this planning do not exist. Trotter cites an example that illustrates how far we still have to go to achieve comprehensive energy planning in Africa: "In Germany, we have around 150 different independent research institutions and groups that carry out energy modelling for Germany in one way or another. For example, the Wuppertal Institute. When the management goes to the state or federal government and advises them, they simply do a meta-study of all the studies we have, and then they look at the extensive database to see which scenarios could be played out. For the majority of African countries, there is not a single sensible long-term planning study of energy systems. A large number of the 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have no studies at all, which means that the decisions that are made there are more or less made in the dark, and that is an incredible danger, because then narratives that are based more on gut instinct than evidence-based decisions sometimes gain the upper hand."

Development path must come from Africa itself

Trotter and his colleagues published a paper for the 2022 World Climate Conference in which they called for a rethink among politicians, donors and researchers with regard to the energy transition on the African continent towards country-specific and more holistic solutions in order to fully utilise the potential of energy as a driver of sustainable development in Africa. "The paper got quite a lot of attention," he says, "especially at the climate conference, there were several events within various committees. We were able to talk to politicians and we struck a nerve." Far too often, the mistake has been made of always seeing Africa as a large and whole, but Africa has 54 countries, in South Sub-Saharan Africa alone there are 48 with considerable differences. "If I look at this from a German development aid perspective and then say I need an Africa programme here, there is a very high risk that it will fail. The entire African energy transformation must take place in a way that is socially and developmentally just. I can't go to Africa and say you have to take this or that path now because it's good for global society as a whole, but it's important that there is a development path driven by Africa that various African countries can define for themselves and implement for their people in a fair way."

At the World Climate Conference in Baku in November, climate financing for such projects was therefore at the top of the agenda.

Renewable energies are the present and the future

"We are seeing this switch to renewables in the energy sector in particular," says Trotter, "Germany now has an energy mix that generated almost 60% of its electricity from renewables last year. It was a different story 20 years ago. We have achieved an incredible transformation, which Germany also played a major role in initiating through the early solar subsidies in the 2000s, so that we are now on a global path that is completely irreversible. Renewable energies are the future, and often already the present. They are cheaper and greener. Apart from gas, which is still being converted to hydrogen, we are no longer building any fossil-fuelled power plants. And it's the same in large parts of Europe and America. I have a very nice synergy of economic and socially acceptable and also environmentally friendly solutions." So far so good. But what about Africa? "In Africa, the continent with the most sunshine, I have practically nothing happening on the solar side," the researcher realises sadly, "investment is very low, although around 50% of the world's solar energy is on this continent. There is this huge Sahara desert that gets 1000 times more sunshine than the world's entire primary energy demand per year. So we could cover the world's entire primary energy demand with a small part of the Sahara desert. In other words, we have this great technology that offers so many advantages, but we have a complete underinvestment in Africa, and that worries me. We now have to see how we can do the same for Africa. We need to make affordable electricity available to Africans."

Building energy models, making development aid more effective

"Thomas Edison invented the light bulb 144 years ago. We have had full electrification in Germany since the 1950s. We know how to distribute electricity to people. 600 million people in Africa have no access to electricity and that is not a technical problem. These are other problems and many of them are of a social and political nature," explains the expert. So if there is no research in the country itself, a planner has to consider which factors they need to take into account in order to meet the needs of decision-makers. "That's why I think together with colleagues from Africa: can we build energy models that might not make sense in Germany, but would make sense in Africa?" The scientist also calls for our development aid to become more effective, explaining: "The main problem with development aid is often the following: Money is given to build a solution. And when this solution is there, you take a photo for your report and walk away. But the very fact that I'm building an electricity system in villages that don't even have the money to run a washing machine, for example, shows that there is a high need but a low demand. The electricity may be used there for light and a mobile phone, but it is not used productively." At this point, the researcher naturally wonders whether there is another way. "I might buy an additional ice machine for one or two villages by the sea so that the fishermen can keep their catch fresh for longer and the fruit can be stored in a cool place, because otherwise everything would spoil immediately in this heat. This allows people to charge higher prices and the produce stays fresh for longer." People can be trained to do this until they understand it. And if the ice cream machine breaks down, people will have it repaired because they have understood the advantages it offers. "Then I have created long-term value. I have to think with the local population and create incentives that there is local value."

Trotter knows that there are already interesting, creative start-ups with relatively limited resources and concludes: "The solutions have to come from Africa, and North Africa also has an important role to play. We can then help with the implementation, for example with technical expertise."

Uwe Blass

Prof Dr Philipp Trotter holds the Chair of Substainability Management in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Wuppertal.