UNDP calls for increased investment in energy access for all
19/5/2022: Finance for electricity is falling in the 20 sub-Saharan African and Asian countries with the highest proportion of people who lack energy access. The Sustainable Energy for All Forum in Rwanda has called for more investment to help 759 million people, 1 in 10 worldwide, do not have access to electricity.
Source: UN Development Programme
New UN plan to accelerate clean energy access for all
4/5/2022: A new UN-Energy Plan of Action sets out a framework for facilitating electricity access for 500 million people, as well as clean cooking solutions for one billion. The commitments will drive forward action to ensure that all people have access to clean and affordable energy, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Source: UN News
Why Africa should lead the Green Revolution
8/3/2022: At a recent summit with the African Union the European Union pledged substantial funds to support the continent's transition to a renewable path. Embracing widely available renewable resources will create thousands of jobs and accelerate efforts to connect more than 600 million Africans to electricity.
Source: The East African
West accused of climate hypocrisy on funding fossil fuels
28/1/2022: Several countries and finance institutions have pledged to end funding of fossil fuel projects in low income countries. These same countries continue to develop fossil fuels at home. New research highlights this hypocrisy.
Source: The Guardian
UN issues new roadmap for clean energy access for all by 2030
3/11/2021: The plan announced by UN Secretary-General António Guterres aims to ensure that 500 million more people gain access to electricity by 2025. The roadmap also calls for fossil fuel consumption subsidies to be re-directed towards renewable energy.
Source: UN Development Programme
New funding alliance aims to advance access to energy for all
1/11/2021: The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet aims to unlock $100 billion in public and private financing to reach 1 billion underserved people with reliable, renewable power. It aims to change the current trajectory of 243 GW of coal plants being planned, permitted, or under construction in developing countries.
Source: The Rockefeller Foundation
What will replace coal finance for poor countries?
5/10/2021: China has withdrawn finance for new coal-fired power plants overseas but Africa still needs to triple its electricity capacity to end energy poverty. The successful diplomacy that has eliminated public funding for overseas coal projects needs to be matched by funding clean power plants.
Source: Inter Press Service
Is China's pledge to cut overseas coal funding a game-changer?
22/9/2021: China's pledge to stop funding overseas coal has been welcomed - but the world's top polluter has not set out a timetable. Other questions remain, not least why private banks and institutional investors from Japan, the US and the UK bankroll so many coal projects in the developing world.
Source: CNA
Kenya tops world in growth in new electricity connections
8/7/2021: The latest progress report on the Sustainable Development Goal for energy finds that Kenya has increased access to electricity faster than other countries. This outcome stems from Kenya’s last-mile connectivity programme, targeting rural areas.
Source: The East African
Achieving universal access to electricity by 2030 is off track
7/6/2021: During the last decade, the number of people without electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa actually increased, despite falling elsewhere. According to the latest Energy Progress Report, an estimated 660 million people will still lack access to electricity in 2030, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, despite the Global Goal to ensure universal access by that date.
Source: The World Bank