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Oil, Gas and Energy Transition Dialogue & Workshop
On 16 and 17 March 2026, the Southern African Resource Watch (SARW) and its partner the Institute for Multi-party Democracy (IMD) convened a regional meeting for civil society, parliamentarians, climate justice organisations, and think tanks from hydrocarbon-producing countries in Southern and Eastern Africa—including Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa, and Kenya in Cape Town, South Africa.
The focus of the policy dialogue was to identify priority actions for a just and inclusive energy transition, with particular attention to the oil and gas sector, while shaping advocacy and policy strategies toward COP31 (Turkey) and COP32 (Ethiopia), key global negotiation platforms on climate action, energy transition and the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
As global momentum builds to tackle the climate crisis, oil and gas producing countries in Africa face the twin challenge of transitioning away from fossil fuels while promoting equitable development and ensuring energy access for all. The continent’s path is complicated by deep economic reliance on oil and gas revenues, complex socio-political landscapes, and limited avenues for meaningful community and civil society engagement. For many African nations, oil and gas remain pivotal to national development strategies, public revenue and international influence. Despite mounting global pressure to decarbonise in line with frameworks such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, most of these countries are expanding fossil fuel projects. While governments in the Global North accelerate renewable energy transitions, many African leaders advocate for “energy sovereignty,” emphasising the use of gas as a transition fuel and asserting the continent’s right to industrialise on its own terms.
This creates a core tension:
- Does oil and gas development enable Africa’s structural transformation and fund renewable expansion?
- Or does it lock in extractive dependency, stranded assets, debt, and climate vulnerability?
Read more about the event in our March Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sarwatch/march-newsletter