Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2020

The executive summary of 'Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2020' analyzes energy access finance commitments in 2018 across 20 high-impact countries (HICs) in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. It finds a significant gap between actual and required investment for Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), noting that funding is poorly distributed geographically and often favors fossil fuels over sustainable, off-grid solutions.

• Annual investment for energy access is significantly lower than the levels required to meet SDG7 by 2030. Residential electrification requires USD 41 billion annually, but only USD 16 billion was tracked in HICs in 2018. Clean cooking finance increased from USD 48 million in 2017 to USD 131 million in 2018, yet this remains far below the estimated USD 4.5 billion needed annually.
• Financial commitments are not aligned with the areas of greatest need. In 2018, Sub-Saharan African HICs received USD 3.3 billion for electricity access—less than 20% of total HIC residential access finance—despite containing 70% of the people in HICs without electricity. Six HICs with electricity access rates below 30% (Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo (DR), Madagascar, Malawi, and Niger) were in the bottom half of HICs for committed electricity finance. For clean cooking, 18 countries housing over 2.2 billion people without access received only 25% of tracked investment; Congo (DR) and Ethiopia received less than 1% of their annual need.
• Investment trends are shifting toward fossil fuels and away from sustainable solutions. Fossil fuels represented the largest portion of electricity finance commitments to HICs for the first time in at least six years, primarily due to grid-connected projects in Bangladesh. Conversely, financing for grid-connected renewables declined for the first time since 2013, and finance for off-grid solutions and minigrids remained below 1-1.5% of total tracked electricity finance.
• The energy access investment portfolio is concentrated among a few providers and projects. This is especially evident in clean cooking, where Bangladesh accounted for 47% of total tracked investment, largely through two projects funded by the Green Climate Fund and the World Bank Group.
• Private sector investment in clean cooking remains low, increasing from USD 21 million in 2017 to USD 32 million in 2018. While public finance focuses on improved cookstoves (ICS), private finance targets modern or renewable fuels like LPG, biogas, and ethanol. The lack of investment is attributed to insufficient public finance to stimulate demand and reduce risk for private investors.

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2020). Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2020. https://www.seforall.org/publications/energizing-finance-understanding-the-landscape-2020

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2020. 2020. https://www.seforall.org/publications/energizing-finance-understanding-the-landscape-2020.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2020 |date=19 November 2020 |url=https://www.seforall.org/publications/energizing-finance-understanding-the-landscape-2020 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2020energizing, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2020}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://www.seforall.org/publications/energizing-finance-understanding-the-landscape-2020}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }