News and Insights

How Africa’s clean mobility revolution can transform health and cities

June 6, 2025

As World Environment Day spotlighted plastic waste this year, we must not neglect air pollution, a silent but deadly threat that causes one in nine deaths globally. This issue is particularly urgent in Africa’s rapidly growing cities like Lagos, Nairobi, Kinshasa, and Dar es Salaam. Urban expansion has grown much faster than clean transport infrastructure and air quality regulations, exposing millions daily to toxic air.

According to the World Health Organization, Africa has the highest traffic related deaths worldwide, even if it has the fewest cars per person. Cities like Accra, Kampala, and Dakar experience air pollution levels far higher than acceptable limits, often higher than WHO recommendations. This puts vulnerable populations, especially children and the elderly, at increased risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

What drives this health crisis, and how can Africa’s clean mobility revolution offer a path toward healthier, more livable cities?

Air pollution from transport harms health

Industrial emissions and the use of solid fuels at home play a major role in air pollution, but aging transport systems remain among the largest contributors. 

City streets are packed with diesel buses and second-hand cars, often imported, that release harmful fumes that pollute the air.

Sustainable mobility: a foundation for health, equity, and a greener planet

More than a climate solution, sustainable mobility is key to public health, social equity, and urban resilience. It involves building transport systems that are clean, efficient, and designed for people, including electric buses, safe bike lanes, walkable streets, and reliable public transit.

Transitioning away from fossil fuels offers immediate benefits:

• Cleaner air: Less diesel vehicles reduce pollutants causing asthma, heart disease, and stroke.
• Healthier lives: Encouraging walking and cycling boosts physical activity, lowers obesity, and improves mental well-being.
• Safer streets: Protected lanes and traffic calming reduce injuries and save lives.
• Lower microplastic pollution: Sustainable mobility reduces microplastics from tires and brakes that enter the environment.

Designing cities for everyone

Sustainable mobility goes beyond vehicles. It requires designing cities that enable safe, inclusive movement for everyone, especially women, children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Accessible sidewalks, safe crossings, and affordable transit create healthier, more connected communities.

Accessible and affordable transport can significantly change lives. Electric buses with lower fares reduce commuting costs. Safe cycling empowers women and girls. Expanded transit connects remote areas to markets, schools, and clinics, strengthening productivity and resilience.

Sustainable mobility also creates green jobs, from electric vehicle manufacturing to solar charging infrastructure, boosting local economies and small businesses.

Cities across Africa are stepping up with bold innovations:

• Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire: Piloting electric taxis and installing new charging infrastructure, with regional expansion planned by 2026.
• Dakar, Senegal: Developing its first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor to reduce commute times and diesel dependence, supported by extensive public engagement.
  
• Nairobi, Kenya: Launched its first fleet of fully electric buses in April 2025, replacing diesel routes and cutting pollution. Plans are underway to expand the fleet to 30 buses by next year.
  
• Rabat and Marrakech, Morocco: The $13 million electric bus project aims to transform the transport system of Rabat by 2028, while Marrakech operates a solar-powered BRT system as a sustainable alternative to diesel buses.

Clean energy powers sustainable mobility

Sustainable mobility depends on clean, reliable energy to effectively transform cities and protect health. Electric transit systems can only thrive if powered by renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. Across Africa, growing investments in solar, wind, and green hydrogen projects—like Morocco’s Ouarzazate Solar Power Station, one of the world’s largest concentrated solar power complexes in the world—are vital enablers: they power electric buses, support charging networks and generate green jobs.

Produced using renewable energy and water electrolysis, green hydrogen offers zero-emission alternatives to fuel fossils. Pilot projects in Morocco and Namibia explore its potential, but costs remain high. Policy support and innovation are needed to scale green hydrogen across the continent.

Local innovation and citizen engagement are crucial

Mobility challenges require solutions grounded in local realities, considering including social, economic, geographic, and cultural perspectives. Solutions that are imported often fail to fit African contexts, because they are typically designed for countries with different infrastructure, urban planning, and regulatory systems. As public health physician and urban epidemiologist Tolu Oni notes in The BMJ, “building healthy low carbon transport infrastructure in Africa’s rapidly growing cities requires addressing historical contexts, confronting power imbalances, and claiming transport as a social good.” Informal transit systems, solar-powered buses, and electric motorcycles designed to fit to the local infrastructure are strong examples of effective, locally tailored examples. 

Collaboration among governments, communities, businesses, and civil society is essential. Kassamba Bintou Diaby, founding member, board member, and Secretary General of ASMAFRICA highlights: “In Africa, sustainable mobility is not a luxury—it is a vital necessity. Through ASMAFRICA, a pan-African Think & Do Tank, we champion ideas and solutions designed by Africans, rooted in our realities, and respectful of our people and our environments. Investing in this transition means believing in a resilient, creative, and sovereign Africa. Our ambition: to make this voice heard at the UN and among major international institutions. Our responsibility: to influence public policies and investments for fairer, more sustainable, and inclusive transport across our continent. Because we don’t just want to imagine change—we want to create it.” ASMAFRICA’s upcoming white paper on sustainable transport, to be presented at COP30, highlights this vision.

Community awareness and citizen engagement are also vital. When people understand the health impacts of pollution, they are more likely to support and use cleaner transport options. Local leaders and community groups help promote changes like walking, cycling, and shared electric transport. They also have a key role in pushing authorities to secure safe, affordable public transit.

Kigali Car Free Day, held twice a month since 2016, when streets open up for walking, cycling, skating, and group aerobics, is a great example. The collaborative effort between the City of Kigali, the Ministry of Health, the Rwanda Biomedical Center, and the Rwanda Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance promotes active lifestyles and shows how simple, community-led initiatives can change habits and reclaim urban space from cars.

Accelerating the transition

This World Environment Day, as we face the urgent threat of pollution, the clean mobility revolution across Africa is gaining momentum. It promises improved public health, safer communities, and greener cities for generations to come. The path forward is clear: embrace locally designed, innovative solutions, unite stakeholders, and reclaim the right to clean air. Sustainable transport is essential to building healthier African cities.