Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2019

The report finds that while electricity finance in 20 high-impact countries reached a record USD 36 billion in 2017, it remains far below the USD 51 billion annual requirement for universal household access. Clean cooking finance saw a critical decline, dropping 73 percent in 2017 compared to the 2015-16 period. The analysis highlights a systemic failure to direct funds toward the most vulnerable, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and emphasizes the need for innovative financing mechanisms like results-based financing and pay-per-service models to bridge the gap.

• Total finance for electricity in the 20 high-impact countries (HICs) reached a peak of USD 36 billion in 2017, but only USD 12.6 billion of this supported residential consumers, falling short of the estimated USD 51 billion annual requirement for universal household access.
• Finance for residential clean cooking experienced a severe collapse in 2017, decreasing by 73 percent to USD 32 million compared to the 2015-16 annual average of USD 117 million, which is drastically lower than the estimated annual need of USD 4.4 billion.
• Investment in electricity is heavily concentrated in India and Bangladesh, which together accounted for nearly two-thirds (USD 24 billion) of the total tracked financing in 2017.
• Sub-Saharan Africa remains severely under-invested; while total electricity finance for 13 analyzed African countries rose to USD 9.6 billion in 2017, this was primarily due to a single USD 5 billion hydropower plant in Nigeria, and four countries in the region saw investment declines.
• Grid-connected renewable energy dominated electricity finance, accounting for 61 percent of all tracked funds, while investment in grid-connected fossil fuel plants decreased to USD 6.6 billion in 2017.
• International public finance for clean cooking reached a new low of USD 10.6 million in 2017, dropping from its 2015-16 share of 92 percent of all tracked finance to just 33 percent.
• Gender-targeted energy finance remains minimal, with only 7 percent of the USD 14 billion in annual official development assistance (ODA) for energy activities in developing countries specifically targeted to benefit women in 2017.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2019). Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2019. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/EF-2019-UL-ES-SEforALL.pdf

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2019. 2019. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/EF-2019-UL-ES-SEforALL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2019 |date=2019 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/EF-2019-UL-ES-SEforALL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2019energizing, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2019}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2019}, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/EF-2019-UL-ES-SEforALL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }