1. What is Mission 300?
Mission 300 is an ambitious initiative launched by the World Bank Group (WBG) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), along with partners, to accelerate energy access in Africa while ensuring that energy meets growing demand, brings economic growth and creates jobs. With the target of connecting 300 million people to electricity by 2030, the WBG will connect 250 million people and the AfDB another 50 million people.
This effort is a unique force for change that brings together high-level political support for energy reform, together with unprecedented mobilization of resources and broad-based partnerships to support scalable energy projects that can transform the energy landscape in Africa.
Through Mission 300, African governments, the private sector, and development partners are uniting to deliver affordable power generation, expand electricity access, boost utility efficiency, attract private investment and improve regional energy integration that drives economic transformation. By addressing the fundamental challenge of energy access, Mission 300 serves as a cornerstone of the jobs agenda for Africa’s growing youth population, and the foundation for the continent’s future development.
A critical piece of Mission 300 is the leadership of African governments in preparing and implementing National Energy Compacts. These compacts outline critical reforms and actions to advance energy access in a reliable, affordable, and sustainable manner.
By working together through Mission 300, governments, development partners, the private sector, and civil society can transform the lives of millions of people across the continent.
2. Why is Mission 300 focused on Africa?
Almost half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population—approximately 600 million people—have no access to electricity. This is close to 83% of the people across the world living without electricity. The lack of access hinders economic development, limits opportunities, and forces households and businesses to rely on expensive and polluting alternatives like kerosene and diesel. Access to electricity is foundational to Africa’s development and is essential to fueling economic growth that can drive job creation.
Electricity powers small businesses and digital development, it improves healthcare, it makes agriculture more efficient, and it attracts industry and investment. Without it, countries and people cannot thrive.
Now is the time to fast-track energy access in Africa. Technological breakthroughs, digitalization, and innovative finance and business models are creating unprecedented opportunities for powering Africa. At the same time, the growth and diversification of Africa’s energy sector will create abundant opportunities for economic growth and job creation.
3. What will Mission 300 do?
- Connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030. This includes both grid and off-grid solutions to ensure widespread access.
- Improve power generation, transmission and regional interconnections, while advancing sector reform and crowding in private sector investment to ensure quality, reliability, and affordability of power supply.
- Accelerate the transformation of Africa's energy sector by expanding distributed renewable energy solutions.
- Support National Energy Compacts that African governments are implementing to advance reforms that aim to:
- Facilitate affordable power generation.
- Promote regional integration and cross-border power trade.
- Enable affordable last-mile access, including by scaling up distributed renewable energy, including solar powered mini-grids and standalone solar systems.
- Empower local communities through inclusive access to energy, particularly for marginalized and rural populations.
- Promote clean cooking solutions that have outsized benefits for the health of women and girls.
- Encourage private sector investment and public-private partnerships. Leverage private capital and expertise to scale up energy projects.
- Strengthen the financial viability of power utilities.
4. Who are the key partners in Mission 300?
The success of Mission 300 depends on extensive collaboration among all stakeholders:
- The World Bank Group (WBG) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) are significantly increasing their financial support to the energy sector to accelerate implementation of energy projects to reach 300 million in Africa by 2030. The WBG and AfDB are also supporting African governments with their energy reform agendas and facilitating private sector participation to boost investment and accelerate transformation.
- Governments are taking the lead on reforms that are critical to supply affordable, reliable energy. National Energy Compacts serve as blueprints for critical reforms and actions to scale up electricity access and modernize their energy sector.
- The private sector will play an essential role in Mission 300 by scaling up investment in distributed renewable energy, as well as grid-connected power generation and new models for private participation in transmission and distribution.
- Donors, philanthropies and partners, such as The Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), are helping to mobilize more public and private financing to reach the Mission 300 goal. Mission 300 is also benefiting from the support of numerous development partners and development finance institutions (DFIs), who are co-financing and providing technical assistance to Mission 300 projects.
5. How is Mission 300 being financed?
Achieving Mission 300 requires billions in investments to not only connect 300 million people to electricity, but also to ensure that the broader energy infrastructure is in place to supply these connections with adequate, affordable, and reliable energy. The World Bank has committed $30 billion (from 2024 to 2030) to provide support across the entire value chain–from generation to distribution, regional integration, utility strengthening and last mile grid connections, and promotion of distributed renewable energy solutions. The African Development Bank has committed $18 million. In addition, over $6 billion was announced by development partners at the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam to support Africa’s energy sector. This concessional financing paves the way for needed private investment to accelerate energy transformation.
6. What is the Africa Energy Summit and how does it relate to Mission 300?
The Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam in early 2025 demonstrated unprecedented commitment to expanding energy access and energy transformation. Over thirty African Heads of State and governments committed to critical energy sector reforms, twelve countries launched detailed action plans to scale up energy access in their National Energy Compacts, and partners pledged more than $50 billion in support of energy transformation in Africa. The summit set the stage for increased momentum going forward with commitments from governments to undertake key reforms and leverage increased concessional finance to usher in more private sector financing.
7. What are the National Energy Compacts?
Twelve African countries have already launched their National Energy Compacts, a second cohort of countries is developing Compacts now and more will join in the future as Mission 300 continues to grow. The compacts outline reforms and actions to drive progress towards universal energy access, increase the share of renewables in the energy mix, and increase private sector participation. The reforms outline critical measures to streamline transparent and competitive tendering processes for new generation capacity; enable power trade across borders; prioritize off-grid and renewable technology, while expanding clean cooking solutions; boost private sector participation and strengthen the financial viability of power utilities.
Each country identifies specific policy measures in its National Energy Compact and sets its own timebound targets based on its unique context. The National Compacts are fully led and developed by the governments and adopted at the highest level of government. Countries are encouraged to hold public consultations with civil society and other relevant stakeholders to inform the development of the Compacts.
8. How are communities incorporated in Mission 300 projects?
Local communities are actively involved in the design and implementation of all World Bank Group-supported Mission 300 projects. Regular consultations and surveys help ensure that each project reflects the needs of beneficiaries and addresses their concerns. Feedback from local stakeholders is directly incorporated into our operations, including in the environmental and social impact assessments of each project. This engagement is essential in creating projects that bring the best possible results for people on the ground.
9. How does Mission 300 incorporate gender considerations?
Increased electricity access will bolster women’s economic empowerment and unleash opportunities such as access to education, home-based income generating opportunities, and a wide variety of job and entrepreneurship opportunities for women, especially in the distributed renewable energy sector.
Reliable electricity supply will also expand access to clean cooking solutions—which will be particularly beneficial to women’s health given their primary role in collecting fuelwood and cooking.
World Bank Group-supported Mission 300 projects, like all WBG projects, will include a gender assessment at the pre-investment stage to identify gender gaps and possible interventions. This will then feed into a gender action plan with specific indicators.
The World Bank is also collaborating with countries and utilities to unlock more job opportunities for women across the energy sector. This includes programs like The Women in Energy Network- Africa (WEN-Africa), which aims to increase female employment in the African energy sector by working with partners to provide internships and scholarships for women in STEM fields, as well as leadership opportunities.
10. How will Mission 300 support the green energy transition?
Achieving Mission 300’s target—and the energy access agenda more generally—will accelerate the momentum for clean energy in Africa and lead to significant emissions reductions.
It is estimated that about half of the Mission 300 target would be most cost-effectively achieved via distributed renewable energy solutions, including solar mini-grids and stand-alone solar solutions. These cleaner energy solutions will allow people to move away from dirtier and less efficient fuels (e.g. diesel, kerosene) that are hazardous for their health and for the environment.
The National Energy Compacts, which are a critical piece of Mission 300, also include concrete, time-bound targets to increase the share of renewables in each country’s energy mix.