Low carbon energy transition and digital infrastructure from the Global South: A review

This study reviews how digital technologies (e.g. smart meters, AI, blockchain, GPS, and sensors) can help countries in the Global South shift to low-carbon energy systems. It found:

• Digital tools can genuinely help the clean energy transition, but solid evidence for this especially in the Global South is thin and scattered.
• Most research concentrates on the demand side and look only at direct, immediate effects. This makes it hard to say how wider, ripple effects across the energy system affect the transition.
• How digital technologies affect energy production and delivery requires more study and data.
• Modeling the full complexity of energy systems requires sophisticated models that may rely on assumptions that don’t hold up well in the real world.
• The effects of digital technology differ a lot depending on location, sector and specific technology, and research on transport, buildings and industry is still underdeveloped.
• Specific tools like AI, blockchain and GPS are understudied in the Global South and there is little research comparing different technologies.
• Finally, almost no research looks at how these digital shits affect social equity and how policy, access and cultural context interact to shape outcomes.