Just energy transition: the national awareness campaign launched

The Ministry of Energy and Oil launched, Monday August 10, in Dakar, the national communication and awareness campaign on the just energy transition, as part of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (Jetp). The objective is to get populations to better integrate the concepts relating to this initiative.

For more than a decade, Senegal has been engaged in a gradual transformation of its energy system. From 2012, the country began to integrate renewable energies and respond to the challenges of climate change. In 2023, the share of renewable energies in the energy mix will already reach around 30%.

With the conclusion of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (Jetp) the same year, in collaboration with Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union (EU), the objective was raised to 40% by 2030. This ambition takes place in a particular context. Senegal now has oil and gas resources, the first fields of which are currently being exploited. Therefore, the authorities wish to develop these resources, in perfect synergy with renewable energies, in order to build a reliable, lower-cost and low-carbon energy system.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Energy and Oil, Yaye Catherine Diop, Director of Energy Transition, welcomed the support of German Cooperation (Giz) through its Sustainable Energy program. She recalled that the strategy was built with partners and is based on six priority areas. These are inclusion and citizen participation, sustainability and resilience, the creation of green jobs, innovation, governance and transparency, as well as the territorialization of the transition.

In addition, a digital project monitoring and evaluation tool has also been finalized and will soon be operational. In the next two months, a campaign will be carried out across the entire national territory, so that every Senegalese is informed and can contribute to this dynamic.

Babacar Ndiaye, president of the Energy and Mineral Resources Commission of the National Assembly, insisted on the “just” dimension of this transition. According to him, it must be sovereign, inclusive and adapted to the realities of the country. It too must accelerate universal access to reliable and affordable energy, reduce territorial disparities and create economic opportunities for young people and national businesses.

Assane FALL