Environmental and Institutional Factors Affecting Renewable Energy Development and Implications for Achieving SDGs 7 and 11 in Mozambique’s Major Cities

Mozambique’s rapidly urbanizing landscape presents both opportunities and challenges for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 and 11, which aim to ensure access to clean energy and sustainable cities. This study employs the HESPECT analytical framework—emphasizing Historical, Economic, Social, Political, Ecological, Cultural, and Technological dimensions of the energy context—to examine the factors shaping renewable energy transitions in Mozambican cities. The analysis reveals a dual dynamic: facilitating factors such as abundant solar and wind potential, expanding urban energy demand, and growing policy support; and inhibiting factors including deforestation-driven ecological stress, poverty, infrastructural deficits, and uneven access to technology and education. By linking renewable energy development to urban planning, service delivery, and social inclusion, the study underscores how energy systems shape the sustainability and livability of Mozambique’s cities. The paper concludes that advancing Mozambique’s renewable energy agenda requires targeted interventions to mitigate constraints while leveraging enabling factors to strengthen institutional capacity, enhance social inclusion, and accelerate progress toward guaranteeing clean and affordable energy to all (SDG 7) and livable, sustainable cities (SDG 11).