Understanding the Landscape ENERGIZING FINANCE 2021

The report finds that global investment for energy access is critically insufficient. Finance for electricity in HICs fell to USD 32 billion in 2019, with residential access receiving only USD 12.9 billion—less than one-third of the estimated USD 41 billion annual need. Clean cooking investment has stagnated around USD 130 million annually, far below the USD 4.5 billion required. While renewables saw record highs and fossil fuel finance declined in some areas, significant gaps remain, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Case studies in Mozambique, Ghana, and Vietnam highlight the need for climate-resilient infrastructure and diversified technological approaches to clean cooking.

• Finance commitments for electricity in high-impact countries (HICs) declined by 27 percent in 2019, falling to USD 32 billion from USD 43.6 billion in 2018.
• Investment for residential electricity access in HICs reached USD 12.9 billion in 2019, which is less than one-third of the USD 41 billion estimated annual global investment needed to achieve universal access by 2030.
• Clean cooking investment is chronically underfunded, with annual tracked commitments in HICs stagnating around USD 130 million between 2015 and 2019, failing to meet the USD 4.5 billion annual requirement for universal access.
• Electricity finance is heavily concentrated in a few countries; in 2019, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan accounted for 82 percent of all tracked electricity finance commitments.
• There was a shift toward Paris Agreement-aligned investments in 2019, with grid-connected fossil fuel finance dropping from 50 percent of total electricity finance in 2018 to 25 percent in 2019.
• Finance for transmission and distribution infrastructure reached a record high of USD 8.3 billion in 2019, up from USD 2.7 billion in 2018.
• Investment in off-grid and mini-grid solutions declined sharply, with bilateral and multilateral DFI finance falling from USD 260 million in 2018 to USD 34 million in 2019.
• In Mozambique, the electricity sector is highly vulnerable due to a centralized system where the Cahora Bassa dam provides over 50 percent of the supply via a single high-voltage line.
• India's energy sector remains significantly misaligned with the Paris Agreement, with state-owned enterprises investing USD 0.9 billion in 2018 in projects deemed 'extremely misaligned', 77 percent of which were high-carbon coal projects.
• Private finance for clean cooking reached a peak of USD 56 million in 2019, with 83 percent of this amount directed to Kenya, primarily for LPG and ethanol.
• Multilateral DFI commitments to clean cooking dropped from USD 45 million in 2018 to USD 4.5 million in 2019, representing only 7 percent of total public finance for the sector.
• In Ghana, achieving the government's 2030 target of 50 percent LPG household usage requires approximately USD 400 million in investment, but only USD 2 million was tracked for residential cylinders in 2019.
• Vietnam has successfully used a public-private Biogas Programme to create a commercially sustainable market, utilizing livestock waste to provide clean cooking and organic fertilizer (bioslurry).
• Carbon finance for clean cooking decreased by 50 percent to USD 10 million in 2019, driven by a lower average offset price of USD 3.5 per unit compared to USD 5 in 2018.
• Development finance for energy projects with a 'Principal' or 'Significant' gender equality marker reached 13 percent of total development finance in 2019, which is lower than the 25 percent average across all development finance.

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2021). Understanding the Landscape ENERGIZING FINANCE 2021. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2021-10/EF-2021-UL-SEforALL.pdf

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. Understanding the Landscape ENERGIZING FINANCE 2021. 2021. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2021-10/EF-2021-UL-SEforALL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=Understanding the Landscape ENERGIZING FINANCE 2021 |date=2021 |url=https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2021-10/EF-2021-UL-SEforALL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2021understanding, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{Understanding the Landscape ENERGIZING FINANCE 2021}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2021}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2021-10/EF-2021-UL-SEforALL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }