The Political Economy of Gas as a Transition Fuel in Mozambique’s Crisis-Shaped Energy Future
Abstract
Abstract Background Natural gas is commonly presented as a transition fuel capable of reconciling decarbonisation, energy security and development in lower-income countries. This proposition is less secure where public authority and long-term planning are repeatedly reorganised by crisis. Focusing on Mozambique, this paper argues that compound crises can transform gas from a temporary bridge into a stabilisation asset, producing transition lock-in through fiscal, institutional and discursive mechanisms. Results The argument is developed through a qualitative, interpretive analysis of 159 policy documents, multilateral reports, corporate texts and civil-society publications issued between 2015 and 2025. A theory-informed coding rubric guides comparison of how these documents construct necessity, treat alternative pathways and represent the durability of gas-related arrangements. The findings show that fiscal expectations, crisis-conditioned institutions and narratives of stability and development reinforce one another, while lower-carbon alternatives are frequently deferred rather than rejected outright. Conclusions A post-coding review of developments in late 2025 and early 2026 further shows that renewed investment and project resumption proceeded amid continuing security and fiscal pressures. The paper contributes to energy-transition scholarship by conceptualising crisis as a constitutive governance condition that compresses policy horizons, redistributes authority and…
Read the paper
Related studies
- Regulation of nucleolus assembly by non-coding RNA polymerase II transcripts
- For a Healthy Histone Code, a Little SUMO in the Tail Keeps the Acetyl Away
- Discovering a binary CTCF code with a little help from BORIS
- Article Commentary: Stabilizing the Code–-Methods to Preserve RNA Prove Their Worth
- Foreword to the Special Issue for the RINTC (The Implicit Seismic Risk of Code-Conforming Structures) Project
- Commentary: Promoting Health and Well-being in Pediatric Primary Care Settings: Using Health and Behavior Codes at Routine Well-child Visits
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.