Satisfying clean and secured water and energy for all Africans: Quantity, efficiency, and sustainability analysis

Achieving universal access to clean water, sanitation, and energy in African countries faces significant policy and research challenges in balancing socio-economic changes, resource demand, and ecosystem limits. This study uses multi-autoregressive modeling and ecological footprint analysis to assess progress on these targets in African countries; examine links with socio-economic drivers; project future resource demands; and evaluate ecosystems' capacity to meet them from 2000 to 2030. Results show a significant gap between current practices and ecosystem sustainability, with resource consumption in some countries projected to exceed carrying capacity by up to 15 times by 2030. Of the three scenarios analyzed, Scenario 3 is the most sustainable, narrowing water gaps by 1.35 and energy gaps to 0.42. Socioeconomic factors like urbanization and GDP growth are identified as key drivers of progress, but rapid population growth, insufficient wastewater treatment, and reliance on nonrenewable energy sources pose significant challenges to achieving universal access. The study emphasizes the need to decouple Sustainable Development Goals' (SDG) progress from rising greenhouse gas emissions and resource overuse, challenges prevalent in many African nations.