Energy for All: financing access for the poor

Radha Muthiah, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, October, 2011

> The Alliance recently attended the Energy for All: financing access for the poor conference hosted by the Government of Norway in cooperation with the International Energy Agency (IEA) that took place in Oslo on October 10. It convened a broad range of stakeholders including the UN Secretary-General, heads of government, government ministers, and representatives of international organizations, the public and private sectors, financial institutions, civil society and academia. The conference examined ways of mobilizing sufficient financial resources to achieve access to energy for all by 2030 - a vital aspect of the wider challenge of securing sustainable energy for all.

I had the privilege to lead a panel on clean cookstoves and fuels as part of a larger conversation on the role of civil society in increasing access to energy. The panel was opened by Ingrid Fiskaa, the Norwegian State Secretary, and included participation from: Jeffrey Haeni, United States Agency for International Development; Els Boerhof, Goodwell Investments B.V; Tokunboh Ishmael, CFA, Alitheia Capital Limited; Suraj Ologburo, CEO, Toyola Energy Services; Mouhsine Serrar, Prakti Design Labs; Stefan Maard, Novozymes; and Sagun Saxena, CleanStar.

There were 10 key takeaways from the conference, including a specific prioritization that delivering clean cooking facilities means an increased use of more efficient stoves based on biomass, biogas and LPG, and that the funding needed to solve the problem of polluting cooking facilities is modest. Conference organizers determined that there is an urgent need to find sustainable business models that meet cultural needs and provide sufficient scale, coupled with a genuine political will to give priority to this issue. Universal clean cooking will especially improve the living conditions of women and children, they concluded.

  • Energy is a critical enabler. Universal access to modern energy services underpins human well-being and economic development.
  • Universal access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy services by 2030 is both financially and technologically achievable. The UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative provides an excellent opportunity to catalyze action by all stakeholders towards this end.
  • Finance will be raised from a combination of sources: the private sector; developing country governments; official development assistance and multilateral development institutions. Climate finance could provide additional finance.
  • All energy sources and technical solutions must be utilized to reach the goal of universal access whilst aiming to make the energy mix as economically, socially and environmentally sustainable as possible. There is a large untapped potential for using renewable energy resources in many developing countries.
  • Government commitment and supportive policies are vital for success. Key factors are strong governance and regulatory frameworks that seek to minimize political and economic risks and encourage investments, as well as strengthened capacity of national and local institutions.
  • The private sector has a pivotal role to play, encompassing a range of actors from local entrepreneurs, manufacturers, and international and domestic project developers, to international banks, local banks, micro-finance institutions and foundations.
  • Financing for clean cookstoves is a priority.
  • Policies and other actions should target the poorest.
  • The International Energy and Climate Initiative, Energy+, was launched with the aim of reducing risks and enabling a better environment for private and commercial investments in energy access.
  • All stakeholders have an important role to play in achieving universal access by 2030.

Other Highlights

> Science recently published an article by Alliance Health Working Group co-chair Bill Martin and his colleagues at the National Institutes of Health on the scope of indoor air pollution and inefficient cooking, highlighting the work of the Alliance in addressing the problem – including key support for the Alliance from the U.S. Government. The article was complimented with an editorial by former Peruvian first lady Pilar Nores Bodereau, whose Sembrando project is an example of a cookstoves intervention that is bearing positive results. Major outlets including Reuters, AFP and NPR ran corresponding stories.

> Today you’ll find an Alliance op-ed in print copies of USA Today in the New York, Washington, DC, Chicago and San Francisco media markets. The op-ed is part of Media Planet’s third special insert on women and girl’s issues to appear in the newspaper. The op-ed is on page 12, and the Alliance logo and summary appearing among other organizations as a supporter of the women and girls movement is on page 17.

> The Alliance recently attended the Energy for All: financing access for the poor conference hosted by the Government of Norway in cooperation with the International Energy Agency (IEA) that took place in Oslo on October 10. It convened a broad range of stakeholders including the UN Secretary-General, heads of government, government ministers, and representatives of international organizations, the public and private sectors, financial institutions, civil society and academia. The conference examined ways of mobilizing sufficient financial resources to achieve access to energy for all by 2030 - a vital aspect of the wider challenge of securing sustainable energy for all.

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