This paper examines the energy transitions occurring in the energy landscape of Maputo, Mozambique. In Maputo the slow adoption of ‘modern’ fuels is not occurring in spite of (and replacing) ‘traditional’ biomass fuels but alongside their continued use. All energy sources are now embedded in complex energy landscapes of livelihoods, uses, values, experiences, and socio-technical relations. We argue that for residents of Maputo, this transition does not represent a single phase towards an idealised future but a reality corresponding to the constraints most people face. Multiple fuel use can be understood as a strategy of fuel security and maintaining different energy choices often gives people autonomy, which can be understood as once instance of energy sovereignty.
These contestations contradict many of the assumptions under models such as the ‘energy ladder’ - which often promote a monolithic future based on the use of one or two primary fossil fuels. However, such a future would serve to support the energy-governance complex in Mozambique and disregard the heterogeneous energy choices that people have developed. Moreover, we contest that energy access conceived in terms of energy sources alone is too prescriptive and closes off potential pathways to sustainability. Rather, it is argued we must understand the contexts within which people make energy choices, how energy is conceived, how it is embodied, and how it is made material in the socio-technical landscape.