CTCN/Practical Action webinar: Energy access financing

First published in 2010, Practical Action’s Poor People’s Energy Outlook series shines a light on the energy access needs and priorities of poor people across the spheres of household, community services and productive uses of energy.

Codified in the Paris Climate Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals, energy access is increasingly acknowledged as a pre-requisite to achieving broader development goals including economic prosperity, gender equality, health provision, and more. Investments in national energy systems have accordingly increased; however, while there is widespread recognition that most of these investments should go into decentralized energy systems which are often much faster and more economical, energy finance is still targeted disproportionately towards large-scale centralized infrastructure. As a result, the world is not on track to achieve universal, sustainable and modern energy access by 2030 – and other development objectives will also be affected.

Demonstrating how to overcome ‘business as usual’ approaches to energy access financing that are currently unable to deliver on our global goals, Poor People’s Energy Outlook (PPEO) 2017 looks at the mix of technologies and funding required to achieve national and global energy access goals - and the roles of civil society and the private and public sectors in making this a reality. The webinar will explore the mix of funding needed to realize the people-centred national energy access plans outlined in PPEO 2016; which were based on the energy access priorities expressed by 12 energy-poor communities across Bangladesh, Kenya and Togo. With commentary from others in the sector, the webinar will highlight in particular:

• The importance of distributed energy systems in providing universal access, and the financial implications of these;
• National and global financing requirements for clean cooking fuels and technologies;
• The role of finance in promoting gender equity and women’s empowerment across the energy access value chain;
• National financing strategies needed to address energy for productive and social uses beyond the household.

Organization

Practical Action is an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) that seeks to transform the way technology is used to improve the lives of people living in, or vulnerable to, poverty in developing countries. Prcatical Action enables poor communities to develop their skills and knowledge, access new opportunities and lead the sorts of lives that they value.

Presenters

• Lucy Stevens, Senior Policy and Practice Advisor, Energy and Urban Services, Practical Action: Lucy leads Practical Action’s international influencing work around issues of pro-poor infrastructure and services, including Energy Access. She has worked at Practical Action for 15 years; before which she worked at the Community for Social Enquiry in South Africa. Lucy manages the PPEO series, from designing initial consultation work to crafting the final publication.
• Aaron Leopold, Global Energy Representative, Practical Action: Aaron is Practical Action’s Global Energy Representative, responsible for leading policy engagement with global processes and partners relating to energy, and for coordinating advocacy work across Practical Action’s offices.