1. Our Team

Fellow
Rebekah Shirley
Research Director of Data and Innovation, World Resources Institute
Focus
Big Data & The Grid, Utility-Scale Renewables
Areas of Expertise
Small Island Nations, Electric Vehicles, Energy Modeling, Climate Change

Dr. Rebekah Shirley is a Visiting Research Fellow at Strathmore University, where she mentors students, designs graduate curricula, and supports local research capacity development. She is also a RAEL Research Affiliate for the University of California at Berkeley, and the Director of Research, Data & Innovation at the World Resources Institute, Africa, where she works to improve access to high-quality data and insights for environmental and human development. Her research explores models for integrated energy planning and innovations for sustainable power system design. She works in sub Saharan Africa, South Asia, and in Small Island States. Rebekah’s work with energy companies, civil society, and governments has driven energy strategy at the state and national level.

Rebekah earned her PhD from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley where she also obtained her MSc. Energy and Resources and a MSc. Civil Engineering. Rebekah was previously a University of California Chancellor’s Fellow. She was also featured as an ESI Africa Power and Energy Leader in 2019 and named Africa Utility Week’s 2018 Outstanding Young Leader in Energy. Rebekah is Caribbean-American and lives in Nairobi, Kenya.

 

 

Non-Hub Publication Highlights

Small island developing states and their suitability for electric vehicles and vehicle-​​to-​​grid services. Utilities Policy, Vol. 55. September 27, 2018.
Renewable energy sector development in the Caribbean: Current trends and lessons from history. Energy Policy, Vol. 57. February 22, 2013.

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Report

The Drivers of Africa’s Electric Vehicle Future Might Be Different Than You Think

By June Lukuyu, Rebekah Shirley, Jay Taneja
Since transportation accounts for 24% of direct CO2 emissions, the road to Net Zero depends on a rapid transition from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs).
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Op-Eds & Articles

Electric transport offers Kenya a way out of its fuel crises

By Rebekah Shirley, Jit Bhattacharya
Originally posted in Business Daily, April 19, 2022 Over the past two weeks, Kenyans have been forced to grapple with the pain and uncertainty of fuel shortage.
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Memo

Three Recommendations for Meaningful Africa-Europe Partnership on Energy Transitions

By Rebekah Shirley
Ambitious, time-bound commitments to delivering finance for clean energy in Africa will be far more productive than policing policies that dictate what countries can do with their own sovereign resources. Spotlighting the global importance of Africa’s energy transitions Africa’s role in the global energy transition is undeniable as the least electrified yet fastest-growing continent on the globe, crucially in need of investment in climate resilience.
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Memo

Strategies to increase finance for resilience in small islands

By Rebekah Shirley
The Caribbean islands rally firmly behind the “1.5° to stay alive” movement, for a limit to 1.5°C of global warming over pre-industrial levels before the end of the current century.1 At the current pace, the earth has already seen 1.1°C of warming. Many Caribbean islands are already experiencing annual hurricane damages that exceed 0.5% of GDP on average, which will only intensify without drastic global climate action.2 As such the Caribbean is prioritizing adaptation to shore up critical infrastructure that may reduce the costs of climate-related disasters and build resilience to future shocks.
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Memo

Defining ‘Just Transitions’ in the Africa Context

By Rebekah Shirley
The latest climate science shows a shrinking carbon budget that requires deep and immediate decarbonization in industrialized economies, and swift action to ensure sustainable, low carbon development pathways in emerging economies.1 At the same time, the climate crisis is embedded within a global context of historic, systemic, and growing inequality which perpetuates deep poverty, resource and labor exploitation, unemployment, unfair distribution of the burden of pollution and emissions, and ultimately heightened social and economic vulnerability to climate impacts. Out of this contradiction, many local movements have emerged advocating that a fair economy and a low-carbon environment must coexist: if the process of transitioning to low carbon economies is not “just,” the outcomes cannot be sustainable.
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Memo

Commercial & Industrial Solar PV: Threat or Opportunity for KPLC?

By Benjamin Attia, Rebekah Shirley
Privately owned distributed solar installations have been steadily growing amongst C&I customers in Kenya. Estimates of installed capacity range from 29 MW (UNEP-DTU) to 50 MW (Wood Mackenzie), and could reach 550 MW by 2025, driven primarily by cost savings and power reliability benefits to offtakers.
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Memo

Policy Action for Climate Resilient Energy Systems in Small Islands

By Rebekah Shirley
The Imperative for Small Island Energy Resilience With over 30 storms named, 2020’s Atlantic hurricane season was the most active on record and the tenth consecutive year with eight or more billion-dollar disasters.1 The 2021 hurricane season is already underway, projected to extend the record to six consecutive seasons with above-normal storm activity.2 FIGURE 1: Natural disaster impacts to the Caribbean It is estimated that Caribbean countries suffer annual storm damages equivalent to 17% of GDP on average, with damages often well exceeding the size of the economy – Hurricane Maria is estimated to have cost Dominica 225% of its GDP in 2017.3 Natural disasters occur more frequently and cost more on average in the Caribbean than anywhere else (see Fig 1),4 and are compounded by economic reliance on climate-sensitive industries including agriculture, fisheries, and tourism. As such, the Caribbean consistently ranks as one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change and is prioritizing adaptation measures and infrastructure that may reduce the costs of climate-related disasters and build resilience to future shocks.
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Multimedia

Episode #7 Rebekah Shirley: Small Island Nations are Hypervisible & Hyper Invisible

By Rebekah Shirley, Rose Mutiso, Katie Auth
The director of research, data & innovation for WRI Africa talks with Katie & Rose about climate justice and building resilient energy infrastructure in small island developing states, why climate finance pledges don't always translate to reality, obstacles to electrical vehicle uptake in Africa, and Nairobi's reggae scene. Dr.
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