Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2019

This year’s report offers a picture of sustainable energy finance from 2013 to 2017.

Key findings include:

• Electricity access - Of the USD 36 billion in total finance for electricity access in 2017, only USD 12.6 billion was estimated to support new access for households, representing just one quarter of the estimated annual investment of USD 51 billon required to meet universal access.
• Sub-Saharan Africa - Except for Nigeria, finance commitments for electricity in Sub-Saharan African countries remain abysmally low. Four of the thirteen Sub-Saharan African HICs reported an absolute decline in electricity investment, and ten received less than USD 300 million each in 2017. 
• Clean cooking - An annual investment of USD 4.4 billion is required to close access gaps, yet only USD 32 million in finance commitments for clean cooking solutions were tracked—representing less than 1 percent of the estimated finance required for universal clean cooking access by 2030.
• Fossil fuels - Despite a global climate emergency, the report highlights ongoing reliance of investment into fossil fuels as a way to support energy access. Finance commitments for grid-connected fossil fuel fired power plants, including coal, decreased from USD 8.1 billion tracked in last year’s report to USD 6.6 billion. Energizing Finance strongly underscores that coal will not reach vulnerable, remote populations and continued financing of new, non-renewable power is incompatible with the Paris Agreement, meeting the SDGs or responsible investing. 

See also: Energizing Finance series

For electricity access findings, the high-impact countries are: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Congo (DR), Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Korea (DPR), Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Philippines, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Yemen.

For clean cooking access findings, the high-impact countries are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Congo (DR), Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Korea (DPR), Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam.