IEA Africa Energy Efficiency Training Week: The Transport Stream

From 20 to 23 October 2025 I took part in the International Energy Agency (IEA) Africa Energy Efficiency Policy in Emerging Economies Training Week in Accra. The training week was co-hosted by the IEA and Ghana's Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, in partnership with the African Energy Commission (AFREC) of the African Union and the African Development Bank.

The week was organised in thematic streams. I participated in the transport stream, which dealt with vehicle efficiency and electrification policy and was co-led by Alison Pridmore and Shane McDonagh of the IEA.

Background

Ambitious implementation of energy efficiency policy depends on trained practitioners, exchange of best practice and sustained capacity building. The training week brought together policy practitioners from across the region to build that capacity in a structured way, with each stream working through the policy questions specific to its sector.

The transport stream

The aim of the transport stream was to build capacity for developing policy approaches for vehicle efficiency and electrification in the region. Transport is a large and growing share of energy demand in African economies, and the policy choices made now on vehicle standards, imports and electrification will shape that demand for decades.

The stream drew on a group of transport speakers with experience across government, research and practice in the region:

• Doris Edem Agbevivi
• George Kwadwo Appiah
• Benedicta Agbo-Dan
• Dr. G.K. Ayetor
• Tibebu Assefa
• Peter Egyin-Mensah
• Engr. Kaisan Muhammad Usman

Relevance to my work

The stream connected directly with my own work on e-mobility policy in Ghana. I work on supply-side regulation for electric vehicles in Ghana, which addresses what enters the vehicle market rather than relying only on demand-side incentives, and on the framework for the E-Mobility Policy Working Group. Working through vehicle efficiency and electrification policy alongside practitioners from other countries in the region was useful for testing how these instruments sit within a wider regional picture, where vehicle markets are closely linked across borders.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Alison Pridmore and Shane McDonagh for leading the transport stream, to the transport speakers for their contributions, and to the IEA, Ghana's Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, the African Energy Commission and the African Development Bank for organising and supporting the training week. Thanks also to my fellow participants in the transport stream.

Photograph: Alison Pridmore / IEA.