Africa’s Green Hydrogen Trajectory: A Multidimensional Review of Technology, Economics, Infrastructure, and Social Justice

Abstract

Although Africa possesses some of the world's most abundant renewable resources, it faces formidable infrastructural, financial and socio-environmental barriers to green-hydrogen deployment. To provide a holistic evidence base for policymakers, this study combines a systematic narrative review of 50 peer-reviewed and grey-literature sources with bibliometric mapping and a multidimensional evaluation matrix. Publications have increased dramatically since 2020. After removing query anchor terms from keyword rankings, the bibliometric mapping highlighted second-order thematic foci-such as desalination/water, ammonia/derivatives, infrastructure/logistics, certification/GoO, and policy/finance themes-that bridge technical and socio-economic research. A continental comparative matrix assessed technological readiness, economic viability (LCOH: levelized cost of hydrogen), infrastructure readiness, regulatory preparedness and socio-environmental justice across seven key countries. In this review study, socio-environmental justice was defined and assessed as a set of operational, evidence-traceable safeguards and distributional risk exposures associated with hydrogen deployment, covering (i) water sourcing and allocation governance (competition with domestic users, desalination/brine externalities, and conflict-mitigation measures), (ii) land-tenure and displacement protections for renewable plants and corridor rights-of-way, (iii) procedural justice via documented consultation/participation provisions (including FPIC where applicable) and grievance-redress mechanisms, (iv) benefit-sharing and local value-capture instruments (local content, training, community service co-benefits), and (v) environmental safeguards, monitoring, and enforcement capacity; these elements were scored through predefined sub-indicators, with inverse scoring applied for risk-type proxies so that higher environmental justice values consistently represented stronger safeguards and lower socio-environmental risk. The evaluation matrix was operationalized using a transparent, rule-based scoring rubric in which multiple sub-indicators were normalized to a consistent 0-1 scale (via threshold-based and min-max transformations, with inverse scoring for risk-type indicators), aggregated into five pillar scores, and combined into a composite readiness score; robustness was examined through alternative entropy-based weighting and Monte Carlo uncertainty propagation (with percentile intervals reported). Egypt topped the ranking owing to plans for more than 15 GW of electrolyzer capacity and 47 desalination plants (6.4 million m(3)/day, 20% earmarked for hydrogen), achieving source-reported plant-gate PV-only LCOH values in the range of 3.13-4.21 EUR/kg H-2 (source-reported; providing FX-harmonized USD/kg H-2, 2050 scenario), under the financial and technical assumptions (e.g., WACC 7.49-11.26% and 26-year project life). Morocco and South Africa followed closely due to liberalized electricity frameworks and established port infrastructure, whereas Namibia and Mauritania, despite world-class solar and wind resources, scored lower because of remote project locations and high capital costs. Kenya's nascent program anchored on geothermal power resulted in the highest LCOH (>4.2 USD/kg H-2) and low policy scores. Analysis of policy documents revealed only Namibia and Mauritania have enacted dedicated hydrogen legislation; most other countries lack certification schemes and Guarantees of Origin.Physical observations-extreme solar irradiance (>2200 kWh/m(2) yr ), steady coastal winds, acute water scarcity and desert conditions-explain why desalination, transmission networks and port upgrades are decisive for lowering costs. High financing costs (with WACC varying strongly by project structure: a high/risk-adjusted case of 11-15% is used in some studies, concessional or de-risked structures can fall in the 2-6% range, and a central benchmark of similar to 8% is also commonly reported) and reliance on export markets further constrain competitiveness. The study concludes that unlocking Africa's hydrogen potential requires synchronizing infrastructure investment with transparent regulatory frameworks and socio-environmental safeguards, thus transforming abundant natural resources into inclusive industrial development.