Search Climate Insights Directory
255 results
The journey to clean cooking: Insights from Kenya and Zambia
This research paper examines the transition to advanced cookstoves in Kenya and Zambia, distinguishing between the motivations for initial purchase and the factors that ensure long-term adoption. While financial accessibility, fuel savings, and aesthetic appeal drive initial sales, the study finds that actual adoption depends on the stove's performance and the availability of post-purchase support. The authors recommend hands-on trials, high-quality manuals, and consistent fuel quality to prevent users from abandoning the technology.
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Document type: Research paper
What boosts cookstove uptake?
The document identifies and assesses behaviour change techniques (BCTs) for improved cookstove (ICS) adoption, noting a shift from financial incentives toward 'shaping knowledge' and 'social support'. It highlights the importance of tailoring messages to gender and local contexts and proposes a modified framework that integrates individual, social, structural, and locational determinants of behaviour.
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Document type: Briefing
Bringing clean, safe, affordable cooking energy to households across Africa: an agenda for action
The document highlights the critical need to transition sub-Saharan African households from traditional biomass to clean cooking energy. It notes that approximately 700 million people currently rely on biomass, causing 600,000 annual deaths and significant economic losses. The paper advocates for a market transformation toward clean stoves and fuels, suggesting intermediate steps such as improved efficiency stoves and sustainable charcoal regulation, while drawing on evidence from Mali, Ghana, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
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Document type: Research paper
From Theory to Practice of Change: Lessons from SNV’s Improved Cookstoves and Fuel Projects in Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal and Rwanda
The report evaluates SNV's interventions in four countries, finding that a systemic approach combining user understanding, market linkages, and enabling environments is key to scaling clean cooking solutions. It proposes a revised theory of change emphasizing a trajectory from lower-tier to advanced technologies to achieve health and climate goals.
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Document type: Research paper
Situation Analysis of Energy and Gender Issues in ECOWAS Member States
The report examines the intersection of energy poverty and gender inequality in West Africa, highlighting how socially determined roles lead to differential access to and use of energy services. It identifies significant barriers for women in the energy workforce and entrepreneurship, including gaps in STEM education and limited access to land and finance. The document assesses the existing regional and national policy landscapes, noting a general lack of gender-disaggregated data and limited collaboration between energy and gender ministries. It argues for a gender-responsive approach to energy planning to maximize the impact of interventions and achieve universal energy access by 2030.
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Document type: Report
PROGRESS TOWARD SUSTAINABLE ENERGY GLOBAL TRACKING FRAMEWORK 2015 SUMMARY REPORT
The GTF 2015 report finds that global progress across energy access, efficiency, and renewables during the 2010–2012 period falls substantially short of the rates required to meet 2030 targets. While electrification saw gains, primarily in India, access to clean cooking remained stagnant. Energy intensity improved, led by high-income nations, and renewable energy consumption grew, though not fast enough. The report highlights a massive investment gap, noting that annual flows must triple to reach $1.0–1.2 trillion. It also introduces the 'energy nexus' to explore interdependencies between energy and water, food, health, and gender, and advocates for a 'data revolution' to move beyond binary access metrics toward more nuanced, multi-tier measurements.
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Document type: Report
SUBSIDIES TO LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS IN INDIA
The report evaluates a pilot program in Mysore, India, where LPG subsidies were transitioned from price-point subsidies to electronic cash transfers (DBTL). Based on interviews with 120 beneficiaries and focus group discussions, the study finds that the scheme faced significant administrative hurdles, including excessive paperwork and failures in subsidy delivery. It highlights negative impacts on household behavior, such as increased short-term borrowing and a return to biomass fuels for cooking due to the higher upfront cost of unsubsidized cylinders. The report concludes that the pilot was poorly implemented and generally preferred the previous subsidy system.
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Document type: Report
Climate technology in context
The report argues that low-carbon technology adoption in developing countries requires tailored innovation systems rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. It identifies specific needs for the 'bottom of the pyramid' (energy access), the rising middle class (lifestyle and urban planning), and industrial sectors (efficiency and value chain integration). The authors emphasize that the public sector must mitigate risks through financial support and coordination, while international bodies like the UNFCCC's Technology Mechanism should act as brokers to link finance, R&D, and knowledge sharing.
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Document type: Report
International Women’s Day 2014 Statement by Kandeh K. Yumkella - Special Representative of the Secretary-General & CEO Sustainable Energy for All
The statement by Kandeh K. Yumkella highlights the critical link between energy poverty and the socio-economic wellbeing of women and children. It emphasizes that lack of electricity in healthcare settings contributes to high maternal mortality and that household air pollution from biomass and kerosene causes millions of premature deaths. The author advocates for universal access to modern energy, clean cooking solutions, and mechanical power to liberate women from domestic drudgery and enable their economic empowerment.
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Document type: Statement
Can low-carbon options change conditions for expanding energy access in Africa?
The document examines the potential for low-carbon technologies to address energy poverty in Africa, highlighting that while grid expansion is suitable for urban areas and some rural zones, off-grid and mini-grid renewables are increasingly viable for remote regions. It identifies significant barriers to adoption, including high upfront capital costs, lack of local technical capacity, and the political influence of fossil fuel reserves. Using Morocco's rural electrification programme as a success story, the briefing argues that low-carbon options must be integrated into broader development objectives—such as job creation for youth, health improvements from reduced air pollution, and national energy self-sufficiency—to become politically and economically competitive.
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Document type: Briefing
Expert Workshop on Energy Access and Climate Mitigation: Synergies and Trade-offs
The workshop concluded that low-carbon options have not yet fundamentally changed the barriers to energy access in Africa, such as high supply costs and weak financing. Participants argued that energy access must be framed as a tool for inclusive development rather than just a grid connection, and that national governments must lead the transition by creating enabling environments and sustainable business models. While the emissions impact of basic energy access is considered negligible, there is a call for stronger evidence linking low-carbon pathways to job creation to convince policymakers.
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Document type: Report
Technology Innovation in the Indian Clean Cooking Sector: Identifying Critical Gaps in Enabling Conditions
The report finds that India's clean cooking sector is hampered by a lack of cross-government coordination, limited access to commercial finance for entrepreneurs, and a significant gap in consumer awareness. While the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has established technical standards, the sector remains supply-driven, often ignoring the agency and specific preferences of rural households. The authors argue that the National Biomass Cookstoves Initiative (NBCI) should evolve into a cross-government National Mission to leverage the distribution networks and awareness-raising capacities of other ministries.
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Document type: Research paper
Mainstreaming Sustainable Energy Access into National Development Planning: the Case of Ethiopia
The paper examines the gap between Ethiopia's large-scale grid expansion and the needs of the rural poor, proposing a Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) to integrate decentralized renewable energy into national policy.
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Document type: Research paper
SEforALL Global Tracking Framework
The SEforALL Global Tracking Framework asserts that current efforts are insufficient to meet sustainable energy goals. It identifies 20 high-impact countries in Asia and Africa as critical for expanding electricity and clean cooking access, and another 20 countries as essential for doubling the global share of renewables and energy efficiency. To meet 2030 targets, the report argues that annual energy investments must increase by at least $600 billion, focusing on energy efficiency, renewables, and access expansion.
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Document type: Executive summary
Innovation for climate-compatible development for the bottom of the pyramid
The document argues that addressing the energy gap for the 'bottom of the pyramid' (BOP) requires a comprehensive approach to the innovation cycle, moving beyond simple technology development to include user-centric design, strategic deployment models, and the building of local institutional capabilities. It highlights that nearly 1.3 billion people lack electricity and 2.6 billion lack clean cooking energy, with significant health and climate costs associated with traditional biomass use. The author recommends leveraging diverse funding sources—including climate and health funds—and coordinating international initiatives to scale up sustainable energy solutions.
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Document type: Policy brief
Sparking Change: Ideas for Transforming the Clean Cooking Market in India
The document examines why the clean cooking market in India has failed to expand despite the widespread use of inefficient biomass-burning 'chulha' stoves by approximately 160 million households. It highlights that biomass burning contributes roughly half of the black carbon in the atmospheric brown cloud over South Asia, impacting health and climate. Key barriers identified include a lack of legitimacy for improved stoves, failure to design products based on user preferences, and poor access to finance and distribution for small-scale producers. The brief recommends shifting focus from consumer price subsidies toward supply-side support, improving user-centered design, and making clean cooking a cross-government priority.
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Document type: Policy brief
The Secretary-General’s High-level Group on Sustainable Energy for All
The report outlines the progress of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, highlighting over 100 commitments from governments and businesses, including more than USD $50 billion from the private sector. It details a four-step country-action process adopted by 55 developing countries and identifies 50 high-impact opportunities across 11 action areas. The document also proposes a distributed global network for future implementation and a baseline report to track progress toward 2030 goals.
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Document type: Report
TRANSIÇÃO ENERGÉTICA JUSTA
The document presents a framework for a just energy transition, detailing how moving away from fossil fuels improves public health, urban living, and energy access. It highlights benefits such as reduced respiratory diseases, improved mental health, and the creation of decent work in renewable energy.
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Document type: Fact sheet
HCN_Healthy_Fossil_Free_Society_Infographic_SP
The document presents a vision of a healthy, fossil-free society achieved through an energy transition. It highlights improvements in public health, such as reduced respiratory diseases and lower heat stress, alongside the creation of decent jobs in renewables and the implementation of zero-carbon infrastructure. Key focus areas include the development of healthy cities with active transport and nature-based cooling, and expanding clean energy access to improve healthcare, education, and household hygiene.
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Document type: Fact sheet
BRIEFING: NIGERIA PROSPERITY POST FOSSIL FUELS
The document analyzes Nigeria's struggle to balance its economic reliance on oil and gas with climate ambitions. It highlights the risk of 'carbon lock-in' through policies like the Petroleum Industry Act and the fiscal vulnerability of sub-national governments. It proposes shifting from a natural-resource-dependent model to one based on high-value manufacturing and services, leveraging renewable energy and critical minerals like lithium. Key recommendations include developing multi-sectoral transition policies, securing international climate finance, and implementing social protections for displaced workers and the Niger Delta region.
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Document type: Briefing