ENERGIZING FINANCE: UNDERSTANDING THE LANDSCAPE

This report chapter from Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) analyzes development finance for energy projects with gender equality objectives between 2008 and 2018. It highlights a significant gap between general development finance and energy-specific finance targeting gender equality, identifies methodological failures in current tracking systems, and proposes a new framework for reporting and measuring gender-focused energy outcomes.

• Development finance for energy projects with a gender equality objective is significantly lower than the average across all sectors. In 2018, only 9 percent of total development finance for energy projects carried a gender equality marker, whereas 42 percent of total OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member assistance across all sectors targeted gender equality as a Significant or Principal objective.
• Funding for gender-focused energy projects is highly concentrated among a few providers. In 2017 and 2018, 10 agencies provided 93 percent of the USD 2.4 billion in tracked finance with a gender equality marker, averaging USD 1.1 billion annually.
• Energy sector finance with gender equality objectives has fluctuated over time. While it increased in 2018 compared to 2017, it remained below the record high set in 2016. The 2016 peak was primarily driven by projects in East Asia and the Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa, while South Asia saw an increase in 2018 to levels notS laest seen in 2013.
• Current tracking methodologies, specifically the OECD-DAC gender marker, face significant challenges due to a lack of energy-sector-specific guidance and inconsistent reporting. A 2019 Oxfam report found that approximately 25 percent of examined projects were given incorrect policy markers, with a tendency to over-mark projects as having gender equality outcomes.
• SEforALL proposes a three-part framework to improve the tracking of gender-focused energy finance: la: projects must (1) define the specific context of gender inequality in the sub-sector and region, (2) explicitly state the intent to address that inequality throughout the project cycle, and (3) demonstrate a direct link between the financed activities and the identified inequality.
• The report categorizes gender inequalities in the energy sector into two main types: 'Access to Energy Sector Workforce and Economic Opportunities' (e.g., women making up less than 30 percent of the energy labour force and submitting less than 11 percent of patent applications) and 'Access to Energy in the Household and Workplace' (e.g., women and children accounting for 85 percent of deaths from biomass induced air pollution).

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2020). ENERGIZING FINANCE: UNDERSTANDING THE LANDSCAPE. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2020-12/EF-2020-UL-Gender-SEforALL.pdf

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. ENERGIZING FINANCE: UNDERSTANDING THE LANDSCAPE. 2020. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2020-12/EF-2020-UL-Gender-SEforALL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=ENERGIZING FINANCE: UNDERSTANDING THE LANDSCAPE |date=2020 |url=https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2020-12/EF-2020-UL-Gender-SEforALL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2020energizing, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{ENERGIZING FINANCE: UNDERSTANDING THE LANDSCAPE}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2020}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2020-12/EF-2020-UL-Gender-SEforALL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }