Senegal is seeking approximately six billion euros to meet its commitments made in 2023 to reduce its carbon emissions and make energy accessible to households. Of a total estimated need of 9 billion euros to ensure the energy transition, the country has already benefited from 2.5 billion euros thanks to the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).
By Bacary DABO
Senegal is actively engaged in a just and sustainable energy transition through the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), a cooperation framework aimed at accelerating the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energies.
This commitment was at the heart of a capacity-building workshop for journalists, held on July 3, 2025, in Dakar by the Research and Action Center on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Cradesc), in partnership with The African Climate Foundation (Acf). This meeting, which is part of facilitating the implementation of the JETP in Senegal, aimed to equip journalists to enable them to take ownership of it and ensure relevant dissemination to the public.
For its overall energy transition plan, estimated at 9 billion euros, the country has so far mobilized 2.5 billion euros through funding from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union. This leaves a gap of about six billion euros to reach the goal of 40% renewable energies in installed capacity by 2030.
Babacar Ndiaye, a deputy in the National Assembly of Senegal, states that the JETP consists of 6.6% grants, 0.5% technical assistance, and concessional loans representing 69.2%. He believes that the JETP represents a historic opportunity to accelerate Senegal’s energy transition and will also create 30,000 green jobs.”In Africa, we need to understand that behind renewable energies, there are many opportunities to exploit,” he emphasizes, inviting the private sector to engage in investments in the field of renewable energies.
The executive director of Cradesc, Mrs. Fatima Diallo, for her part, notes that the 2.5 billion euros from the JETP, whose investment plan is in the validation phase, are largely insufficient for Senegal, given that the overall investment plan is set at 8.9 billion euros. According to her, it is urgent to ensure that the energy mix is dominated by renewable energies, in order to see how these can benefit the dominant economic sectors (agriculture, fishing, etc.).She believes that the energy transition would be completely unfair if it only benefited urban areas at the expense of rural areas.
In this dynamic, Senegal can also rely on the exploitation of its natural resources to improve energy access and the living conditions of its populations. The country has gas resources estimated at around 910 billion m³, as well as a potential for renewable energies in areas such as solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, biogas, hydrogen, and geothermal energy.
Even nuclear energy represents a new opportunity to explore.To achieve its objectives, the country takes inspiration from the South African model, the first African country to benefit from the JETP initiative, with concrete results to show.
