TANZANIA’S national campaign for the use of affordable clean energy aligns with sustainable development goal (SDG) 7: “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”.

Target 7.1 states “By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services.” This is hardly five years to go. This compels every country to ensure it puts in place workable strategies for clean energy implementation.
Every Tanzanian is now encouraged to use clean energy which is friendly to the environment, and stop using firewood or charcoal fuel, which contributes to environmental degradation, air pollution and is detrimental to human health. It is possible to use clean energy, provided is available and affordable.
Perhaps this is very important in the national campaign for clean energy use. Rural dwellers especially should be mobilised to use clean energy instead of firewood fuel. Above all, clean energy services should be made available and affordable. 

Yet, transition from the use of firewood or charcoal fuel could go slowly. So, a grassroots campaign is extremely important if we want to make the national clean energy campaign successful. Household Budget Survey of 2017/18 suggests firewood is mainly used in rural areas (84.8 percent) compared to urban areas where its use is 17.4
percent. 

While demand for firewood is high in rural areas, demand for charcoal is high in urban areas (60.5 percent), compared to 11.5 per cent in rural areas. Although firewood or charcoal fuel is considered affordable to users it is costly in the long-term compared to clean energy. Agenda 2030 for Africa suggests that on average, the demand for access to modern energy in Africa
is growing faster than the supply. 

“Balancing demand with the need to promote clean energy that relies on renewable energy resources is essential for a low-carbon development pathway.” However, to replace firewood or charcoal fuel with clean energy such as gas energy, it has to be available and affordable more than firewood or charcoal fuel. This is what will make firewood or charcoal fuel die natural
death. There is no better clean energy strategy than making gas energy available and affordable to all users in the country. 

This is an aspect that must be considered in the national clean energy campaign, which is even better than banning the use of firewood or charcoal fuel for cooking food or boiling drinking water or for any other use. President of the United Republic of Tanzania Samia Suluhu Hassan has been praised for championing the use of clean energy which is taking root
in the country. 

Women and other groups of people, including food vendors and entrepreneurs especially, have been mobilised to use affordable clean energy and stop using firewood or charcoal fuel which contributes to environmental degradation, air pollution and ill-health. Although the campaign is underway, many people both in urban and rural areas still use firewood and charcoal for cooking or boiling water for various purposes. 

In some households although family members use gas for cooking food or boiling water, they still use firewood or charcoal fuel for cooking beans to save gas energy consumption. A medium-sized gas cylinder sells at 55,000/- (retail price) in some parts of the country, including Dar es Salaam. Some families find this price expensive. Small gas cylinders may be affordable, but may also not last for a long time especially in large families.

Although in World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Fostering Effective Energy Transition (2023 Edition) Tanzania ranked 118th out of surveyed 120 countries and performed below the global average (56.3 per cent) its score change from 2014 to 2023 was 10.15 points up. The report says the imperative of the equitable energy transition stems from the critical role played by the energy sector in driving socioeconomic growth.

“While the energy transition has the potential to create economic opportunities, it could bring high costs and inequalities if not managed properly, particularly for the world’s most vulnerable populations. This requires leaders to make difficult choices, particularly in emerging and developing economies, to support economic growth that maximises social welfare while ensuring access to abundant and diverse forms of energy at affordable prices.”

Energy Technology Perspectives (2023) says the global clean energy transition is accelerating, driven by a combination of policy, technological change and economics. It suggests that the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically and urgently in the face of ever more startling evidence of global climate change is now widely accepted, reflected in increasingly ambitious national goals.

It suffices to say that clean energy campaign has come at the right time as there are global initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change effects. It is the responsibility of every Tanzanian to ensure this campaign becomes his or hers without which it fails. So, let us keep the fire burning in the clean energy campaign and make Tanzania a better place for each one of us.