As the world redraws its energy policies under climate pressure, Senegal has just confirmed that it will maintain stable hydrocarbon prices, despite an ongoing review of its tariff structure. This decision, presented as a measure to protect purchasing power and stabilize macroeconomics, exposes a profound paradox: how can an ambitious energy transition be pursued without mobilizing one of its most effective levers: green taxation?

In a global context where fossil fuel subsidies are increasingly criticized, Senegal's strategy remains cautious, almost conservative. No incentive tax is integrated into the current scale. No modulation of rates is envisaged according to emission levels or uses. It is as if the consumption of polluting fuels must still escape any budgetary constraints, at the risk of perpetuating a model whose ecological limits are well known.

Certainly, price stability can be justified in the short term, particularly in a country where transport depends heavily on diesel, and where price increases can cause immediate social tensions. But by failing to seize the opportunity to redirect behavior through economic signals, the state is postponing the difficult trade-offs of the transition. It is also maintaining a double standard by promoting investment in renewable energy on the one hand, and massively subsidizing fossil fuels on the other.

The energy transition isn't just about solar projects or talk of green sovereignty. It also requires a bold overhaul of the incentives that shape everyday practices. The truth is that the lack of ambitious ecological taxation is one of the blind spots in Senegal's climate policy. And until the real price of pollution is met, the low-carbon trajectory will remain more proclaimed than planned.