Climate change and economic development in Africa: A systematic review of energy transition modeling research

African countries face a dual challenge of building broad-based prosperity and addressing the threats of climate change. We analyze the climate-energy-development nexus in Africa through a systematic review of the state of the knowledge on energy transition modeling and projections, with particular attention to the relative prioritization of socio-economic development and the commitment to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. We analyzed 156 peer-reviewed research papers that cover part or the whole of Africa, are concerned with the issue of the energy transition, and are model-based. We find, among other things, that i) Energy transition modeling is a recent but fast-growing phenomenon in Africa, with over 90% of papers completed after the Paris Agreement in 2015, ii) projection of energy mixes and the associated emissions paths are the key objective in general, with only 10% of the papers that also considered development outcomes as a central outcome, iii) technologies such as carbon capture, nuclear, or hydrogen, are among the least considered, and iv) nearly two-thirds of the research was produced without an author affiliated with an institution based on the African continent. We discuss the significance of these findings and reflect on how the literature could tackle climate challenges and socio-economic development.