We have just returned from Adamawa, Central Northern Cameroon, where we had the opportunity to see first-hand the challenges and opportunities of domestic biogas as a means of providing clean and low-cost energy to remote, off-grid and low income areas. What was most interesting about this visit was to see the motivations for people to engage in renewable energy projects, and the barriers to ownership, compared to those in Europe. This opinion piece looks at the crux of the matter: the often underestimated role of social institutions, and a deep-rooted lack of trust in environments with weak or absent market institutions.
