Ep243: 'Most of World' is Key
Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO of Sustainable Energy For All, joins Michael on Cleaning Up
What if the future of clean energy isn’t decided in Washington, Brussels, or Beijing, but in Lagos, Nairobi, and Addis Ababa? Are we underestimating how fast the Global South is leapfrogging fossil fuels? And what happens when clean energy becomes the cheapest, fastest path to development, not a climate sacrifice?
In this episode of Cleaning Up, Michael Liebreich is joined for a third time by Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and UN Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN Energy.
Together, they explore how Africa and the wider Global South are quietly reshaping the global energy transition, from rapid growth in solar, storage, mini-grids, and EVs to bold policy moves that many developed economies haven’t yet dared to make.
They dive into why energy access is about dignity, health, and gender equality; why finance, not technology, is the real bottleneck; and how local capital, data, and innovation could determine whether “Most of World” powers its future with clean energy or fossil fuels.
Watch the full episode now on YouTube, or find it on your favourite podcast platform.
The finance bottlneck point is crucial. Tech is solved, but capital flows remain lopsided. What's interesting is how mini-grids and distributed solar sidestep the need for massive grid infrastructure that took decades to build elswhere. I worked on energy projects in Southeast Asia and the speed of deployment was shocking compared to retrofitting legacy systems. The leapfrog effect is real.