News

The world is not moving fast enough to reach its universal electricity access goal by 2030.

This is one of the main findings of 2017 State of Electricity Access Report (SEAR). The report further stresses that substantial acceleration of efforts and investments are needed to achieve this objective. It also points out that in countries with low levels of electricity access, both grid and off-grid solutions are vital for achieving universal access but they must be supported by an enabling environment with the right policies, regulations and incentives.

SEAR was formally launched during one of the Vienna Energy Forum’s main events on energy access.

The 2017 Vienna Energy Forum represented an opportunity for ESMAP to showcase other key knowledge products developed under the SEforALL Knowledge Hub namely, the Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) and the Global Tracking Framework (GTF).

The findings of RISE and GTF on Asia were also the subject of the keynote presentation at the Asia Clean Energy Forum in Manila before an audience of 1500 practitioners. RISE was presented at the Beijing Clean Energy Ministerial on June 8.^th Both RISE and GTF have also been featured at the Sustainable Energy Ministerial in Astana on June 12th-13th, where the World Bank also launched the GTF 2017 Regional Companion Reports authored by each of the five UN Regional Economic Commissions

Energy Access Redefined: Emerging Findings from the Global Multi-Tier Framework Survey

The Multi-tier Framework (MTF) for Energy Access was also presented during the forum. The MTF goes beyond the traditional approach to measuring access to energy—either having access or not – to capture multiple dimensions of access such as capacity, duration, quality and reliability, affordability, and safety, as well as the impact on socioeconomic development. This approach provides more insightful information to enable policy-makers to choose the most appropriate interventions. The Global Energy Access Survey – currently underway in 15 high access deficit countries around the world – is the first survey to apply the MTF methodology.

The World Bank, in collaboration with the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) organized a session which provided a sneak preview of the findings in Kenya and Rwanda, the first two countries to have completed the MTF survey. Representatives from these countries shared some initial findings and lessons from the process and engaged with other policymakers in a lively discussion of how this information can shape action on the ground.

Watch: Vivien Foster at the Vienna Energy Forum

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