Although the basic access rate to energy has increased since 2022, the current rhythm is insufficient to achieve universal access by 2030, one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), according to a report published by WHO and partners this Wednesday.
The report highlights the role of profitable distributed renewable energy, a combination of mini-floid solar systems and outside the network, in accelerated energy access, particularly because the populations that remain are not connected mostly live in remote, low-income and fragile areas.
Regional disparities
“Despite the progress in some parts of the world, the expansion of electricity and access to clean cuisine remains disappointingly slow, especially in Africa,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), as 85 percent of the world population without access to electricity residing in Sub -Saharan Africa.
In the region, the deployment of renewable energies has expanded rapidly; However, on average, it remains limited to 40 watts of installed capacity per capita, only an eighth of the average in other developing countries.
Clean cooking
As regional disparities persist, it is estimated that 1.5 billion people residing in rural areas still lack access to clean cooking, while more than two billion people continue to depend on hazardous contaminants and fuels such as firewood and coal for their cooking needs.
However, the use of clean technologies outside the network, such as domestic and mini-group biogas plants that allow electric cooking, can offer solutions that reduce health impacts caused by household air pollution.
“The same pollutants that poison our planet are also poisoning people, contributing to millions of deaths each year of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, particularly among the most vulnerable, including women and children,” said Tedros Ghebreyesus, CEO of WHO.
Lack of financing
The report identified the lack of sufficient and affordable financing as a key reason for regional inequalities and slow progress.
Although international public financial flows to developing countries in support of clean energy have increased since 2022, the developing world received significantly less flows in 2023 than in 2016.
“This year’s report shows that now is the time to join to build on existing achievements and expand our efforts,” said Stefan Schweinfest, director of the UN Statistics Division, since the report required an international cooperation strengthened between the public and private sectors to expand financial support for developing countries, especially in Africa Subsaharan.
