Links to recent news and analysis on the Global Goal to provide energy for all, ensuring universal access to affordable electricity.
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5/10/2021: China has withdrawn finance for new coal-fired power plants overseas but Africa still needs to triple its electricity capacity to end energy poverty.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
Zimbabwe’s energy policy still favouring coal over renewables
1/12/2020: Despite Zimbabwe’s abundant potential for renewable power, the country is embarking on a coal-power building spree of as much as 8 gigawatts, much of it to be built and financed by Chinese companies.
Source: China Dialogue
Nigerian Damilola Ogunbiyi gets top UN sustainable energy job
30/10/2019: The first woman to lead the charge for electrification in rural Nigeria will shortly take on her new role as UN special representative for sustainable energy and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All.
Source: Climate Home News
Rockefeller chief wants to redefine 'energy poverty'
3/10/2019: A new commission convened by theRockefeller Foundation and a handful of high-powered partners aims to redefine what the world means by “energy poverty” and to push for a more intensive effort to overcome it.
Source: Devex
Global energy initiative aims to bring a billion people in from the dark
13/9/2019: A new global commission aims to end energy poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia by driving investment in new technology .
Source: The Guardian
Desert solar project aims to transform Africa's energy profile
13/9/2019: The Desert to Power Initiative aims to provide 10 GW of solar energy by 2025 and supply 250 million people with green electricity in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Source: Inter Press Service