Powering Healthcare

This report by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) analyzes the potential for climate finance to advance the electrification and climate-proofing of healthcare facilities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. It establishes a climate rationale for investing in low-carbon and resilient technologies, quantifies potential GHG emissions and cost savings, and maps the landscape of available climate finance sources and the barriers to accessing them.

• Approximately 1 billion people in low- and lower-middle-income countries are served by healthcare facilities that either lack electricity or have unreliable access. In South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, 25,000 facilities remain unconnected to the grid, and an estimated USD 4.9 billion is required to bring facilities in these regions to a minimal or intermediate level of electrification.
• Healthcare facilities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa contribute to climate change through the use of fossil fuel generators, particularly where grid access is unreliable. For example, a 5 kVA diesel generator in Nigeria is estimated to contribute 1,625 kg CO2/MWh, which is higher than the 751–1,095 kg CO2/MWh associated with coal power.
• Investing in low-carbon and resilient technologies provides both mitigation and adaptation benefits. Stand-alone solar PV systems avoid GHG emissions from generators and provide secure electricity during natural disasters. Energy-efficient appliances and buildings reduce energy demand, which minimizes the impact of grid disruptions and reduces the required solar capacity; in India, such measures for primary healthcare centres (PHCs) could reduce energy consumption by 45% and costs by 55%.
• Scaling up clean technology across energy-deficient facilities in India, Nigeria, and Nepal could lead to significant annual CO2 savings. If all grid-connected facilities requiring back-up invest in solar PV, annual savings are estimated at 190,322–380,643 tonnes of CO2 in India, 13,130–26,260 tonnes in Nigeria, and 4,727–9,453 tonnes in Nepal.
• The financial returns for solar PV investments vary by scenario. For grid-connected facilities using a 2–5 kWp back-up system, financial returns are 5–11% over a 25-year lifespan, with payback within five years for smaller systems. However, for unelectrified facilities using a 10 kWp system as a sole source, financial returns only become positive after 25 years, though economic returns (including social costs of GHG) are 3% after 25 years.
• Climate finance is a broad category that includes bilateral finance, multilateral funds, private foundations, carbon/REC markets, and green bonds. While global climate finance reached USD 632 billion in 2019/20, only USD 30 billion flowed to South Asia and USD 19 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa. Most of this (90%) was for mitigation, with only 7% for adaptation.
• No single climate finance source can cover all costs associated with climate-proofing healthcare facilities. Bilateral finance, multilateral funds, and private foundations typically cover CAPEX and enabling environment costs but not OPEX. Carbon and REC markets are uniquely suited to provide long-term finance for OPEX through the ongoing sale of credits.
• Significant barriers hinder the use of climate finance for healthcare, including the fact that GHG savings for a single facility are often too small to attract investors, requiring a programmatic approach at a national or regional level. Other barriers include limited technical capacity of healthcare professionals to design projects, lack of consolidated national energy data, and the risk of unsustainable OPEX funding.
• To mobilize climate finance effectively, the report recommends five priority actions: identifying facility-level climate and health needs through bottom-up assessments, developing long-term national and facility-level financing plans, adopting a programmatic approach for economies of scale, improving collaboration between health, energy, and finance experts, and digitalizing facilities to monitor emissions and energy use.

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2023). Powering Healthcare. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2024-02/report-phc-climate-finance-002.pdf

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. Powering Healthcare. 2023. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2024-02/report-phc-climate-finance-002.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=Powering Healthcare |date=December 2023 |url=https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2024-02/report-phc-climate-finance-002.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2023powering, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{Powering Healthcare}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2023}, month = dec, url = {https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2024-02/report-phc-climate-finance-002.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }