Business and human rights should be at the heart of Africa’s energy future
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Business and human rights should be at the heart of Africa’s energy future.
Africa’s energy transition should not infringe on human rights.
By Pooja Dela and Dylan Cron, Partners at Webber Wentzel
Africa’s energy transition should happen responsibly, without infringing on the rights of individuals or communities.
Business and Human Rights (BHR) offers a framework for managing this tension.
For energy stakeholders (governments, investors, developers and communities) BHR should be a core driver of responsible growth, risk management and legitimacy in the African energy ecosystem.
In countries like Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Egypt, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) the energy transition is well under way.
Friction about benefit sharing
Kenya’s Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Procurement Programme (REIPPP), and Namibia’s ambitions in green hydrogen, for example, are reshaping the narrative.
However, several of these projects have encountered friction regarding land use, community engagement and benefit-sharing.
African energy development often intersects with vulnerable communities, informal land tenure, historical marginalisation and weak governance environments.
Failing to address these dynamics invites risk. Integrating BHR offers a pathway to do better.
Case studies in the Global North
For African states, embedding BHR into national energy policy enhances investor confidence and future-proofs infrastructure development. It also empowers governments to regulate more effectively and ensure that energy development is not only fast but fair.
Recent legal developments in the Global North offer cautionary insights for Africa. For example, the UK Supreme Court recently confirmed that parent companies (in this case Shell) can be held liable for human rights harms caused by foreign subsidiaries. Although the case arose from alleged environmental damage in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, the precedent may apply well beyond that context.
In France NGOs sued TotalEnergies under France’s Duty of Vigilance Law, which creates binding obligations on entities (including parent companies) to identify, prevent, mitigate and redress human rights and environmental impacts resulting from their own activities, as well as those companies under their control, subcontractors and suppliers.
In the Frozen Wind Farm Case in Norway, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled that land expropriation and licensing for certain wind farms violated the rights of Sámi indigenous reindeer herders under international law, highlighting the importance of FPIC, even in the context of renewable energy development.
Business and human rights should be at the heart of Africa’s energy future