Making Clean Energy Transitions More Inclusive: Evidence, Knowledge GAPS, and Policy Options in Low-Income Economies

This policy brief examines the barriers to inclusive clean energy transitions in low-income economies, emphasizing that without intentional policy design, these transitions risk reinforcing existing socioeconomic and gender inequalities. It highlights significant financing gaps, implementation barriers, and the systemic marginalization of women, while providing recommendations for the G20 to facilitate knowledge sharing and innovative financing to support vulnerable populations.

• Progress toward universal electricity access has slowed, with 660 million people expected to remain without electricity by 2030, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, approximately 2.8 billion people lack reliable electricity access, and monitoring of this reliability is insufficient.
• There is a severe shortfall in climate finance for developing countries. Clean energy investment in these regions fell from US$11.9 billion in 2010 to US$10.8 billion in 2021. The 2015 Paris Agreement goal of US$100 billion annually was not met, reaching only US$83.3 billion in 2020, while the COP27 Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan estimated a need for US$6 trillion by 2030 for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Climate finance is geographically concentrated, with the Middle East and Africa receiving only 2% of global investment and Latin America and the Caribbean receiving 4%.
• Implementation of energy transitions is hindered by political and institutional factors that favor existing technologies. Poorer and rural households face barriers to electricity connections, including high fees, low reliability, and the cost of necessary home upgrades.
• Energy transitions often perpetuate gender biases by treating women primarily as consumers rather than producers or leaders. While more NDCs now mention gender, these mentions are often superficial and frame women as victims rather than agents of change.
• The Energising Development Programme (EnDev) in Tanzania serves as a successful model for inclusive transition by training women as clean cook stove producers, traders, and salespeople, which increased their labor market participation, income, and household prestige.

APA

de Haan, A., Dupar, M., Jeuland, M., Phillips, J., Torres, M. M. J., Adhikari, B., & Mbiekop, F. (2023). Making Clean Energy Transitions More Inclusive: Evidence, Knowledge GAPS, and Policy Options in Low-Income Economies. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2026-02/De%20Haan%20Dupar%20et%20al_Inclusive-Clean-Energy-Transitions.pdf

Chicago

de Haan, Arjan, Mairi Dupar, Marc Jeuland, Jonathan Phillips, Monica Marcela Jaime Torres, Bhim Adhikari, and Flaubert Mbiekop. Making Clean Energy Transitions More Inclusive: Evidence, Knowledge GAPS, and Policy Options in Low-Income Economies. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2023. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2026-02/De%20Haan%20Dupar%20et%20al_Inclusive-Clean-Energy-Transitions.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{dehaan2023making, author = {de Haan, Arjan and Dupar, Mairi and Jeuland, Marc and Phillips, Jonathan and Torres, Monica Marcela Jaime and Adhikari, Bhim and Mbiekop, Flaubert}, title = {{Making Clean Energy Transitions More Inclusive: Evidence, Knowledge GAPS, and Policy Options in Low-Income Economies}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2023}, month = jul, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2026-02/De%20Haan%20Dupar%20et%20al_Inclusive-Clean-Energy-Transitions.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }