Blog by Carlos Sordo, Energy Access Partnership & Innovation Manager, Practical Action
More than two years have now passed since the 2030 Agenda was designed and the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established – including SDG7 which ‘ensures access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all’. The UN’s tracking of progress on SDG7 over the last two years has shown mixed results.
The future of the planet is in the hands of the people. Access to energy services is the future for the upcoming generation. I would like to share what I have learnt and gained knowledge in this field. Access to energy services reduces the gap between sorrow and happiness of the community people. Grass-root communities are deprived of many basic necessities and utilities. I have seen the dependency of the local people on natural resources – such as water, grazing land and forests. Depletion of these resources makes it difficult for them to survive.
As a part of PEEDA- WISIONS partnership “Demonstration of Sustainable Low Head Pico Hydro to Deliver Enhanced Rural Energy Services”, I assess the project and its contribution to the socio-economic development of the country. The activities included the installation of pico hydro plants of capacities 3 KW and 1 KW in Toksel VDC and Katunje VDC of Okhaldunga district, Nepal. The reach of a national electricity grid takes a lot of time due to lack of proper infrastructure and road transport.
Continue reading “The future of the planet is in the hands of the people”
SNV and and others development organisations have been saying this for a while, but now the call for climate finance to be better targeted towards small-scale decentralised energy has been reinforced by experts from a Dutch policy institute, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL).
Continue reading “Targeting decentralised energy with international climate finance”
The energy sector is traditionally male-dominated with men’s access to better education, skills training, and finance enabling them to develop businesses and access markets that women have often been excluded from as a result of gendered social norms and women’s unpaid care work. In the energy world, the role of women has often been limited to that of consumers; particularly in relation to the household sphere and cooking practices. The benefits of clean cooking fuels and technologies on women and girls is championed on global platforms; and women are being increasingly recognised as important to energy access planning processes. What benefits arise, though, when we embrace and empower women as agents of change who are actively striving for, and driving us towards, Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7)? Continue reading “Universal energy access: what’s gender got to do with it?”
ACCESS members are looking forward to participating in the SEforALL Forum, taking place in Brooklyn next week.
For Tanzania to meet its energy needs – and in a way that is sustainable – huge levels of finance are required to boost its decentralised energy sector. But the latest research shows current funding flows are way off target.
