Yesterday at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, the United Nations Foundation released the Energy Access Practitioner Network report: Towards Achieving Universal Energy Access by 2030, a set of recommendations based on international on-the-ground experience to provide electricity to the 1.3 billion people who still lack it.
ONE strongly welcomes the report, which will inform governments, investors, the private sector, civil society organizations, social enterprises and the United Nations about the policy shifts and innovative business models that are needed to catalyze the sector and provide sustainable energy to the poorest communities.
The report took almost two years of consultation to write and involved more than 500 international experts, representing a range of disciplines and organizations who collectively deliver energy services to well over 11 million households annually. Primarily focusing on micro- and off-grid electricity solutions for households and communities — not extension of the traditional power grid -– the report focuses on providing electricity to some of the most isolated or overlooked global citizens.
It will be crucial over the next year that governments, the private sector and NGOs take on the recommendations of the report and turn them into commitments and action to help provide electricity access to some of the poorest people on the earth.
“These recommendations draw on the combined practical experience of people working on the front lines to deliver energy services in some 125 countries around the world,” said the Practitioner Network coordinator Richenda Van Leeuwen. “It highlights their challenges and opportunities, and a range of policy, financing and technical recommendations that will help communities and the customers they serve to get the development benefits in health, income generation, agriculture, education, gender equity, and environmental protection that modern energy services can provide.”
With global leaders coming together this Thursday in Rio for a high level event on Sustainable Energy for All ONE will be asking that international leaders take on the recommendations of the report and ensure that steps are taken to bring modern energy access to all.
