Amid global challenges and the need for strong governance: JETP as a potential driver of Senegal’s energy transition

With more than 4 million Senegalese still lacking electricity, Senegal now needs to secure transition financing, alongside the revenues it earns from hydrocarbon exploitation, so that it can convert its energy potential into an engine for inclusive development and social justice. The Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) is key to this. Signed in June 2023 for an initial period of 3–5 years, it is part of a partnership intended to increase access to electricity and clean up the energy mix by increasing the share of renewable energy to 40% by 2030, with a view to large-scale renewables deployment over the long term.

The Senegalese government is committed to the JETP and actively working to develop its investment plan, in spite of unfavourable global dynamics, notably including the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement and from JETPs entered into with Indonesia, South Africa and Vietnam. In this context, greater vigilance is needed around a crucial but often overlooked factor: governance.

Good governance requires that decision-making and implementation processes are based on key principles such as participation, consensus, transparency, accountability, responsiveness, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, inclusion and human rights.

Experience from extractive projects in Senegal and West Africa shows that a lack of transparency and participation can undermine the social legitimacy of public policies in a lasting way. Ignoring these governance principles when implementing the JETP risks repeating past mistakes: public opposition, poor resource allocation and capture of benefits by corrupt elites, resulting in profoundly unjust results for affected communities and workers. To live up to its ambitions and the local context, the JETP must be supported by strong, inclusive, and transparent governance structures that can ensure a fair and lasting impact.

This briefing sets out three priorities for Senegal to ensure that the JETP is truly just, effective and legitimate.