Global energy poverty is now concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Currently, around 580 million in the region, roughly 75% of the global total, have no electricity (IEA, 2019). And a staggering 80% of the population (about 800 million people) lacks access to modern energy and relies on biomass products such as wood, charcoal, and dung to cook.
This acute energy poverty affects many developments and environmental outcomes negatively; notably health, household income, quality of life, access to modern services such as ICTs (Morrissey, 2017), as well as human capital development, productive land use, and sustainable forest management. Across the continent, it is preventing women and children from leading more productive lives, expanding inequality gaps, and fomenting a wide range of social injustices. It is lowering the region’s chance of attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (Corfee-Morlot, et al. nd) and Africa’s Agenda 2065.Download Concept note
