Power, Politics and the Planet: A Critical Narrative Review of the Climate Crisis and a Just Energy Transition in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Zimbabwe's energy transition is unfolding within an unusually difficult conjunction of climate vulnerability, chronic electricity insecurity, widespread dependence on biomass, fiscal and institutional fragility, and accelerating extraction of minerals required by the global low-carbon economy. A transition framed only as substitution of coal and diesel with renewable technologies therefore risks misdiagnosing the central problem. This critical narrative review examines how power relations, political economy, climate governance and distributive conflict shape the prospects for a just energy transition in Zimbabwe. Literature was selected through transparent searching of accessible scholarly indexes, repositories, DOI and journal landing pages, and authoritative institutional sources, with emphasis on work published from 2000 to 26 May 2026 and inclusion of earlier foundational studies where necessary. The synthesis integrates energy justice, political ecology, capabilities, transition studies and climate-finance perspectives. The evidence indicates that Zimbabwe's transition challenge is not simply inadequate generation capacity. It is a governance problem involving unequal control over infrastructure, finance, land, minerals, policy narratives and decision-making. Renewable energy expansion can improve resilience and access, but benefits are unlikely to be shared equitably without affordability safeguards, grid reform, local ownership, gender-responsive planning and meaningful participation. Coal expansion and emergency fossil generation may relieve short-term supply pressures while deepening carbon lock-in and local environmental harm. Lithium-led industrialisation offers potential revenue and value addition, yet current evidence documents displacement, coerced agency and weak community bargaining power. International climate finance can widen policy space, but conditionality and financialisation may also shift accountability outward and reproduce dependency. A just transition in Zimbabwe consequently requires a negotiated governance settlement that treats reliable energy services, procedural rights, livelihood security, environmental repair and domestic value capture as co-equal objectives. The strongest policy case is for sequenced reform: protect an energy-service floor, diversify generation, strengthen public institutions, govern minerals through enforceable social and environmental obligations, and align climate finance with democratically defined national priorities.