Sustainable Energy Transition towards decarbonization among developing countries: A Systematic Literature Review

Sudhanshu Joshi^1*Manu Sharma²Anil Kumar¹Tanuja Joshi¹Amar Johri³Muhannad Alfehaid⁴

• ¹Doon University, Dehradun, India
• ²Graphic Era Deemed to be University, Dehradun, India
• ³Saudi Electronic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• ⁴Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Sustainable energy transitions are essentially a global necessity. However, developing countries are facing significant challenges due to the intersection between rising energy demand with low infrastructure, restricted financial resources, and escalating climate commitments. This systematic review uses the DASOBI framework, to synthesize empirical evidence on energy mix transitions and decarbonization pathways to projects across the developing countries between 2010 and 2025. To ensure methodological rigor, research questions were constructed in accordance with the PICOS model, and 17 peer-reviewed sources were identified using PRISMA guidelines. The research findings to reveal divergent transition trajectories with leaders including Morocco and Brazil having effective institutions in policy and access to concessional funding to achieve some measure of decarbonization. Conversely, the developing countries such as Nigeria and South Africa continue to experience various barriers such as fossil fuel lock-in, the absence of governance capacity, and inertia of institutional capability. Although technological acceptance is on the rise, structural challenges like ineffective regulations, deficient sub-national capabilities, and societal opposition remain to be detrimental to a larger scale advancement. The review offers a systematic approach to understanding the difficulty of long-term shift to sustainable energy in the developing environment and raises the awareness of the need to develop adaptive, inclusive and impact-focused policy framework to accelerate the process of decarbonization.