In-Country Support
We supported 31 countries in 2023 in line with our Country Engagement Framework, 26 of which are Official Development Assistance (ODA)-recipient countries.
As our country partnerships continue to strengthen each year, these 31 countries represent most of the total country partnerships established throughout the business cycle. The 26 ODA-recipient countries make up a large share of the gap to achieve SDG7. Collectively, they are home to more than half (53 percent) of the global population without access to electricity and represent 49 percent of the population without access to clean cooking fuels and technologies. Of the 26 countries supported in 2023, 14 are in Africa, seven are in Asia, three are in Latin America and the Caribbean and two are in Oceania. Combined, these countries have an average renewable energy share of 59 percent as part of their total energy consumption and contribute to 17 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
The charts below present the individual country profiles against key energy, climate-related and development indicators.
SDG7.1 Access to electricity, clean cooking and cooling
Countries with the highest energy access deficits tend to have low HDI scores. This suggests a strong link between energy poverty and human development. Lack of access to energy hinders economic growth, education and health outcomes, which are key components of the HDI. Addressing energy poverty is therefore critical for improving human development and reducing inequalities.
SDG7.2: Share of renewable energy and SDG7.3 Energy Efficiency
Combined, these countries have an average renewable energy share of 59 percent as part of their total energy consumption and contribute to 17 percent of the world’s GHG emissions. The 14 African countries supported have an average renewable energy share of 77 percent as part of their total energy consumption and contribute only four percent of the world’s GHG emissions. Despite this, they suffer from the highest energy access deficits. In contrast, the three countries supported in Asia have an average renewable energy share of 46 percent in their total energy consumption and contribute to 13 percent of the world’s GHG emissions. Countries supported in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania, have higher access rates compared to Africa (10 percent of the unelectrified population on average), but the lowest renewable energy as a share of total final energy consumption (%) compared to both Asia and Africa (26.8 percent on average).
Paris Agreement: GHG emissions, Economic Growth and Development
Finally, countries supported in 2023 account for 13 percent of global energy consumption. In 14 of the 26 countries energy intensity rates are higher than the global average, meaning that over 50 percent of countries supported in 2023 have the potential for energy efficiency improvements.
SEforALL in Barbados
SEforALL in Ghana
Developed an Energy Transition & Investment Plan (ETIP), launched by H.E. President Akufo-Addo in September 2023 with a commitment to net zero by 2060 (the previous target was 2070).
Read more • Established an Energy Transition Office (ETO) at the request of the government, to support implementation of the ETIP.
• Developed an acceleration framework for energy efficiency improvements in Ghana, including supporting capacity building, increasing awareness and creation of platforms for flow of investment into Energy Efficiency projects.
• Secured government commitment for developing a Carbon Market Activation Plan (CMAP) to establish a conducive carbon market policy environment and increase the number of carbon credit projects.
Launched the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative (REMI) with Ghana as a priority country to drive the financial, technical and socio-economic investments required to build up its local solar PV, battery and electric mobility manufacturing, while leveraging the availability of critical mineral resources.
Read moreSEforALL in India
Through support provided to India's G20 Presidency, including through a secondee to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, we helped secure the doubling of energy efficiency in the G20 New Delhi's Leader Declaration in September.
Supported the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and Ministry of Power to develop a voluntary action plan to achieve doubling energy efficiency by 2030.
Watch the workshopSupported distribution companies (DISCOMs) and state authorities to increase their share of renewables into the grid and tap into demand flexibility potential.
SEforALL in Indonesia
Enhanced our collaboration with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, with this partnership leading to the development and launch of the innovative One UN Energy Strategy, which aims to accelerate progress on SDG7 and support a just, equitable and inclusive energy transition in Indonesia by identifying priority areas where the UN is in a unique position to provide high-impact support to the government and people of Indonesia.
Learn moreContributed to the groundbreaking Just Energy Transition Programme (JETP) by engaging with G7 delegations and UN Indonesia, enhancing the focus on a just transition within Indonesia's investment plan, and establishing a cross-learning mechanism with South
Learn moreDeveloped a Renewable Energy Manufacturing Roadmap through the REMI, prioritizing opportunities in solar PV, batteries and electric vehicles in Southeast Asia
Learn moreFacilitated support of the Indonesia Energy Compact, a commitment of USD 122 billion to SDG7 and net zero.
Learn more • Developed an Energy Transition & Investment Plan (ETIP), which lays out pathways for Kenya to develop its energy systems in line with its economic ambitions and net-zero goals by 2050.
• Established an ETIP Technical Implementing Team to support implementation of the ETIP at the request of the government.
In partnership with IBM, developed and piloted an innovative open-source Smart Planning Tool called Open Building Insights (OBI), which provides improved data to energy planners and decision-makers. The OBI tool is a cutting-edge cloud-based solution, leveraging the potency of openly accessible spatial data and advanced machine learning techniques. The model being developed will provide insights that will help to estimate future energy demand, which is a vital component of energy planning.
Visit siteSupported Government of Kenya to develop and implement the Kenya Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy, Kenya’s National Cooling Action Plan and integration of sustainable cooling within the National Climate Change Action Plan as part of our technical and advisory support to the Government of Kenya to progress national energy efficiency and access to sustainable cooling.
Read moreLaunched the Africa REMI with Kenya as a priority country to drive financial, technical and socio-economic investments required to build up its local solar PV, battery and electric mobility manufacturing, while leveraging the availability of critical mineral resources.
Learn more • Provided technical support to Kenya's Presidency, including through secondees to the Climate Envoy’s office, to plan the Energy Pillar at the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, which helped secure The African Leaders Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action.
• At the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, we supported African women leaders, including first ladies, in the signed call to enhance the role of women in energy transition, including through the creation of a Coalition of First Ladies for a Gender-Just Energy Transition in Africa.
SEforALL in Madagascar
Signed new grant agreements under the Universal Energy Facility Mini-Grids programme: committing USD 7.3 million to four mini-grid developers to construct 30 mini-grids, targeting 12,431 connections, impacting 50,000+ people with new or improved electricity access and powering 1,800+ businesses and institutions. Verified 4,216 new or improved electricity connections, impacting 18,000+ people with household access and powering 580+ businesses and institutions.
Developed a geospatial Integrated Energy Access Planning (IEP) tool, which is an online, publicly available, interactive and user-friendly data visualization platform that equips Madagascar’s policymakers and energy practitioners with data and insights to make informed decisions on strategies and operations to advance energy access in the country.
Visit siteBegan the development of the Powering Healthcare Assessment and Roadmap to provide practical recommendations for advancing health facility electrification and inform national interventions led by development partners. The Powering Healthcare Assessment and Roadmap was completed in 2024.
Learn moreSEforALL in Nigeria
• Through the Nigeria ETO, established within the Office of the Vice-President, helped secure to date USD 6.09 billion, directly and indirectly, in commitments towards the implementation of the ETIP.
• The ETO connected with 215 women in Petti, Central Abuja, raising awareness of the health and environmental impacts of traditional cooking. The community was educated on cleaner cooking options and the ETO gathered valuable data on fuel usage patterns and adoption barriers for clean cooking technologies.
• Actively worked to facilitate the JETP process in collaboration with the Nigerian Government. Engaged with representatives of Indonesia and Vietnam, both beneficiary countries, to understand the process, financing commitments and disbursement status of the JETP.
Provided technical advisory support to the Federal Government on the commitment to deploy 10,000 electric buses, with a pilot under development for Lagos State.
Launched the Universal Energy Facility (UEF) Stand-alone Solar for Productive Use (SSPU) programme, which has so far:
• Signed grant agreements totalling USD 10 million with 10 companies to provide productive electricity connections to 3,525 households and small businesses in Nigeria. By December 2023, USD 2.58 million had been successfully disbursed by this initiative.
• Successfully verified the deployment of 733 SSPU systems across Nigeria, most of them serving commercial customers and replacing fossil fuel generators.
Provided substantial support for the design of the World Bank’s USD 750 million Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project, a cohesive and impactful initiative to accelerate deployment of mini-grid electrification in the country, including leveraging data from the Integrated Energy Planning tool developed for Nigeria in 2022.
Launched the REMI with Nigeria as a priority country to advance policy and capacity building, and facilitate investments required to build up manufacturing across renewable energy technologies such as PV, batteries and electric vehicles, while leveraging the availability of critical mineral resources. Technical Assistance was provided to a Nigerian company to commission its 100 MW solar PV factory in Lagos State as part of the Africa REMI, facilitating its receipt of an Import Exemption Certificate.
Learn moreConducted a first-of-its-kind fossil fuel genset footprint mapping and a geospatial data dashboard for Lagos State to inform genset displacement interventions. The study provides data on fossil fuel genset usage, grid supply and environmental impact, and serves as a blueprint for design and scale-up of energy access initiatives nationwide.
Secured government commitment and actively engaged in the development of the CMAP as part of efforts by the African Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) to provide a roadmap for Nigeria to leverage its carbon market potential.
Learn moreSEforALL in Rwanda
Developed the National Integrated Clean Cooking Plan (NICCP) for Rwanda, a first-of-its kind effort to inform the overall clean cooking technology and fuel mix to guide the government’s national clean cooking strategy and rollout, along with informing the National Strategy for Transformation (NST-2) and the Energy Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) through establishing national clean cooking targets and articulating the financial needs to enable implementation.
Completed the Powering Healthcare Roadmap for Rwanda; this aims to provide the government and its development partners with data on the scale of the remaining energy gap in the healthcare sector, options for long-term sustainable models and estimates of investment needed for delivery of continuous and reliable electricity service.
Read moreCompleted the Electric Pressure Cookers (EPC) Pilot study; which assessed the experiences of urban households in Kigali, focused on several key areas: stove and fuel usage, fuel stacking, cooking expenditure, time savings and changes in cooking habits, including variations in the types of dishes prepared. The results indicated that the introduction of EPCs — a novel cooking appliance for nearly all 100 participating households — was, overall, a positive experience.
Read moreImplementation of the Productive Use of Energy (PUE) Pilot; in partnership with the World Bank, SEforALL financed and implemented an assessment on PUE potential followed by the implementation of a PUE pilot project based on the recommendations from the assessment. The results from the pilot study demonstrated significant economic benefits of key PUE technologies, with reported trends across all appliances showing a growth in income.
Secured government commitment for developing a CMAP to establish a conducive carbon market policy environment and increase the number of carbon credit projects.
SEforALL in Sierra Leone
Provided legal and technical project management support for the Betmai Hydroelectric Power Plant (BHPP) project, helping secure Cabinet approval and Parliamentary Ratification by the Government of Sierra Leone and marking a major stepping stone to facilitate the financing and development of the project.
Read morePublished the Powering Social Infrastructure Assessment and Roadmap to provide practical recommendations for advancing health facility and school electrification and inform national interventions by development partners. The findings revealed that 38 percent of health facilities lacked reliable access to energy. Detailed energy audits of major hospitals were also conducted, following which six of them, located in Bonthe, Freetown, Kabala, Kambia and Masanga, were selected for electrification.
Read morePowered six hospitals with solar PV and battery storage, installing over 0.62 MWp, with 12 additional hospitals and 25 community health centres to be completed in 2025. The electrification of the six hospitals has improved the health services across Sierra Leone for over 8.5 million people, nearly 50 percent of whom are women and children.
Read moreProvided the first cohort of 12 STEM trainees with a six-month traineeship that included soft skills and technical hands-on training through SEforALL’s health solar electrification project. The second cohort of 11 STEM trainees is now taking part in their traineeship.
Learn moreLaunched the Mini-Grid Tariff Study that identified interventions to further reduce the end-user tariff to address affordability of mini-grid electrification in the long term. Further technical advisory and capacity building work has followed the delivery of the report.
Read moreSigned new grant agreements through the Universal Energy Facility Mini-Grid programme, totalling USD 706,000 for seven mini-grids and targeting 1,193 new or improved electricity connections. Conditional offer letters were also sent to 12 additional sites, targeting 4,590 connections.
• Commenced the development of the Energy Transition/Green Growth Plan working in partnership with the Office of the President through the Chairman, Presidential Initiatives Renewable Energy Climate Change and Food Security (PI-CREF) and the Ministry of Energy (MoE).
• Established a stronger partnership between the public sector (government) and the private sector (e.g., independent power producers) to expand electricity generation capacity. This collaboration led to active discussions for policy changes needed to accelerate growth in renewable energy.