Powering Healthcare

The report argues that while healthcare facilities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa face severe energy deficits and climate vulnerabilities, there is a strong climate rationale for investing in low-carbon and resilient technologies. It identifies various climate finance sources—including bilateral finance, multilateral funds, private foundations, carbon/REC markets, and green bonds—and analyzes the barriers to accessing these funds, such as high transaction costs for small-scale projects and limited local technical capacity. The document proposes a programmatic approach to aggregate facilities to achieve economies of scale and recommends integrating energy, health, and climate expertise to mobilize the necessary capital.

• Approximately 1 billion people in low- and lower-middle-income countries are served by healthcare facilities that either lack electricity or have unreliable access, with 12% of facilities in South Asia and 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa remaining unconnected to the grid.
• An estimated USD 4.9 billion is required to bring healthcare facilities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa up to minimal or intermediate levels of electrification.
• The report identifies a strong climate rationale for investing in low-carbon technologies; for example, replacing diesel generators with stand-alone solar PV systems can save between 1.4 and 4.2 tonnes of CO2 per facility annually, depending on the baseline scenario.
• Scaling up solar PV and solar lantern solutions across all energy-deficient facilities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa could deliver GHG emissions savings of 0.35–0.58 MtCO2 and 0.4–0.52 MtCO2, respectively.
• Financial returns for solar PV investments vary by scenario: back-up systems for grid-connected facilities show returns of 5–11% over 25 years, whereas sole-source systems for off-grid facilities only show positive financial returns after 25 years.
• No single source of climate finance can cover all costs; CAPEX is typically covered by grants or loans from bilateral/multilateral sources, while OPEX is better suited for long-term funding from carbon or REC markets.
• Significant barriers to mobilizing climate finance include the fact that GHG savings for a single facility are too small to attract investors, necessitating a programmatic approach to aggregate multiple facilities.
• Other critical barriers include a lack of consolidated national data on energy use in health facilities, limited capacity of health professionals to manage climate projects, and the risk of unsustainable investments due to unfunded OPEX and a lack of local O&M providers.

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} }