Focus Area: Access to Energy

schoolgirls study by nightlight

It is estimated that approximately 1.3 billion people worldwide have no access to electricity. Furthermore, 2.7 billion people continue to rely on solid fuels such as traditional biomass and coal for cooking and heating and this is expected to rise to 2.8 billion in 2030.

MRFCJ’s work in this area started in 2012 and has a focus on access to energy for poor and vulnerable households and believes it is necessary to identify specific measures to reach those least able to pay for energy and low-carbon technologies.

MRFCJ’s work in this area is guided by our Climate Justice Principles Support the Right to Development and Share the Burdens and Benefits.

Latest Progress
Context

Access to energy is fundamental to achieving development goals such as poverty reduction, improved health, increased productivity and economic growth. The poor have a right to development and it is in the interests of all if this development takes place using clean, affordable sustainable energy.

Sustainable development also is not possible without considering non-fossil fuel forms of energy. While climate change is one of the greatest development challenges the world currently faces, it is also an opportunity for developing countries to ‘leapfrog’ fossil fuel dependency and become low-carbon sustainable development leaders.

Access to energy is also an important element in discussions on possible Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the post 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) framework. This will result in benefits for the largest but poorest socioeconomic group, the so-called bottom or base of the economic pyramid (BoP) if specific measures are taken to target and support them. At present, those at the BoP have limited access to clean, affordable, sustainable energy sources and rely heavily on fossil fuels and biomass.

Our Approach

Internationally, much emphasis to date has been on rolling out access to sustainable energy using market-based mechanisms and the private sector to target households and consumers with some disposable income.

MRFCJ is concerned that many of the initiatives working to improve sustainable energy will not benefit the poorest and most vulnerable. With this in mind, MRFCJ is working to find ways to improve energy access for the poorest, those with least ability to pay.

While there is no silver bullet solution to meeting the requirements of those currently without energy access, MRFCJ is of the opinion that social protection systems have the potential to deliver access to sustainable energy on a much greater scale than heretofore.

MRFCJ calls on governments, the UN, multilateral development banks, investors and NGOs to make the valuable links between their work on social protection and access to sustainable energy and to deliver innovative approaches that benefit the poorest.

Activity
World Bank Sustainable Development Network Forum 2013

World Bank Sustainable Development Network Forum 2013

Mary Robinson addresses World Bank Sustainable Development Network Forum 2013
MRFCJ President, Mary Robinson addressed a public event in the World Bank on Friday 1 March 2013 as part of the Sustainable Development Network Forum 2013: Solutions for a Sustainable Future...

MRFCJ at COP18

MRFCJ at COP18

Highlighting the need for constituencies of demand at COP18/CMP8
04 December 2012
On Sunday 02 December, Mary Robinson took part in a session on ‘Fast-paced reflections’ as part of the Development and Climate Days organised by the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Climate and Development Network (CDKN).

A Conversation: Women in Climate, Clean Energy and Sustainability
04 December 2012
A panel of women leaders gathered at COP18 in Doha to discuss global efforts to address climate change, deploy clean energy and promote sustainability. The panel was introduced by US Ambassador to Qatar Ms. Suzanne Ziadeh and the event was moderated by Lisa Jacobson, President of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy.

Mary Robinson

Brookings Blum Roundtable on Global Poverty

Mary Robinson: Technology Can Improve the Lives of the Poor
13 August 2012
Mary Robinson attended the annual Brookings Blum Roundtable—an off-the-record forum for global leaders, entrepreneurs and practitioners to discuss innovative ideas and advance groundbreaking initiatives to alleviate global poverty.

MRFCJ at Rio+20

MRFCJ at Rio+20

Better lives, smaller footprints: Tara Shine speaks at IIED Side Event at Rio+20
MRFCJ Head of Research and Development, Dr Tara Shine, was a panellist at the International Institute for Environment and Development’s (IIED) Fair Ideas side event at Rio+20. The event presented insights from IIED’s Fair Ideas conference, held over the previous two days, and examined how the sustainable development goals (SDGs) could be designed to work most effectively.

Malawi Policy Brief

Research on Energy Projects implemented by Grassroots Organisations in Malawi

Access to Sustainable Energy - The Gender Dimensions
MRFCJ commissioned research on energy projects implemented by grassroots organisations in Malawi to document experiences of grassroots organisations on the gender dimensions of climate change that relate specifically to energy access.

Access to energy includes the energy required for cooking, heating, lighting, information and telecommunications, and is an integral part of a chain that allows people to achieve development outcomes. This Policy Brief highlights the gender dimensions of access to sustainable energy, an important and timely consideration given that the UN Secretary General has designated 2012 as the UN International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.

This research builds on previous work by MRFCJ on energy access in 2012, including an event co-hosted with UN Women at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York in March 2012, entitled Rural Women, Climate Change and Access to Energy.

G20, Mexico

G20 Development Working Group, May 2012

G20 Development Working Group, May 2012
MRFCJ Head of Research and Development, Dr Tara Shine gave a presentation to a meeting of the G20 Development Working Group on Friday 4 May 201 in Los Cabos, Mexico. Representatives from the Gates Foundation and the One Campaign also presented to the meeting. The final development issue recommendations from the Working Group meetings will be presented to the G20 Leaders Summit in June 2012.

Meeting the Energy Needs of the Poorest - a position paper by MRFCJ.

Solar Lighting - Sri Lanka

MRFCJ expert meeting ‘Social Protection and Low-Carbon Technology’, March 2012

MRFCJ hosted an expert meeting ‘Social Protection and Low-Carbon Technology’ at the end of March 2012 at the Rockefeller Brothers Pocantico Center in New York. The meeting was attended by twenty one experts in social protection, renewable energy, climate change, finance and sustainable development. They included representatives from governments, international organisations, research organisations, civil society and the private sector. The meeting found that there are many potential linkages between social protection and access to energy and that these could and should be captured and acted on. The meeting resulted in a list of commitments by participants to influence policy, conduct research or test innovative approaches to linking the two disciplines in order to target the poorest.

MRFCJ will build on the results of the expert meeting by using the outcomes of the meeting to inform international processes including the G20, Rio+20, Sustainable Energy for All (SE4A) and the UNFCCC.

CSW Side Event

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) March 2012

MRFCJ co-hosted an event with UN Women at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York on Monday 5 March 2012 exploring the opportunities for improving access to clean, renewable energy for rural communities, with a particular focus on rural women. The theme of this year’s CSW is the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges.

MRFCJ and UN Women host event at Commission on the Status of Women

MRFCJ distributed a paper at the meeting entitled Enabling women’s development and empowerment through access to clean, affordable, sustainable energy

MRFCJ Briefs and Position Papers

Access to Sustainable Energy - The Gender Dimensions - MRFCJ commissioned research on energy projects implemented by grassroots organisations in Malawi.

Meeting the Energy Needs of the Poorest: a role for social protection - position paper by MRFCJ

Enabling women’s development and empowerment through access to clean, affordable, sustainable energy - A brief by MRFCJ on the opportunities energy access provides for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, especially in rural communities.

In the Media

March 2013

37 Years from Now
This blog post by Mary Robinson, which appeared on the Huffington Post is part of the Global Mom Relay. Every time you share this blog, US$5 will go to women and girls around the world as part of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which has called for 100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020.

Resources