ABSTRACT While global agendas promote energy transition and green growth, Africa south of the Sahara (SSA) struggles with low energy access, highlighting a development paradox between climate goals and energy poverty. By aligning aid and development finance with SDGs 7 and 13, we analyze whether development finance is at a crossroads in supporting green growth and energy transition in SSA. The data covers 44 SSA countries from 2000 to 2023. We use Driscoll‐Kraay standard errors and linear dynamic panel‐data estimation by Arellano‐Bover and Blundell‐Bond as robustness checks. The study reveals that official development assistance (ODA) improves access to clean cooking fuels and technologies. ODA also promotes renewable energy transition and increases carbon intensity. IMF concessional loans enhance clean cooking and carbon efficiency, while Regional Development Banks (RDB) loans have weak and mixed effects. The study calls for concessional lending programs to more explicitly integrate green growth and energy access objectives into their macroeconomic frameworks.
Oteng et al. (Tue,) studied this question.