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The report examines benefit-sharing mechanisms (BSMs) in African carbon projects, highlighting the need for transparency, fairness, and community agency to attract high-integrity investment. It categorizes projects by risk—identifying community land-based projects as the highest risk—and proposes five core principles for best-practice BSMs. The authors argue that current low carbon prices fail to cover the costs of robust community engagement and call for regulatory frameworks and commercial financing tailored to the African context.

The webinar 'Youth Action for Climate and Clean Air Now' brought together over 140 youth leaders and experts to discuss the role of young people in mitigating short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) and improving air quality. Key discussions focused on the science of 'super pollutants' like methane and black carbon, the importance of youth engagement in the 2025 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) update process, and the implementation of community-led solutions such as solar dryers in Ghana and indoor air quality monitoring in UK schools. The event emphasized that reducing SLCPs can provide rapid climate benefits and improve public health, particularly for children in the global south who are disproportionately affected by pollution.

The report assesses Madagascar's clean cooking landscape, where only 5% of households use clean technologies. It models two 2030 scenarios: a baseline based on the SDG7 Energy Compact and a 'Universal Access' scenario emphasizing e-cooking and biofuels. Key findings highlight that while bioethanol, biogas, and pellets have vast production potential, affordability remains the primary barrier. The transition could significantly reduce deforestation and avert thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution, particularly benefiting women who bear the brunt of fuel collection and cooking tasks.

The report examines Nigeria's decentralised renewable energy (DRE) sector, focusing on green mini-grids, solar home systems (SHS), and productive use of energy (PUE). While Nigeria has a significant energy access deficit—with 88.5 million people lacking electricity—it has developed a robust regulatory framework and a dynamic private sector. Growth is driven by international donor programmes and government initiatives like the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP). However, the sector faces substantial hurdles, including high inflation, foreign exchange risks, limited local manufacturing, and difficulty accessing affordable local credit.

The document presents an Evidence Gap Map (EGM) developed by SEforALL and 3ie to guide policymakers and researchers toward rigorous evidence on sustainable energy in low- and middle-income countries (L&MICs). Based on a search of 22 academic databases and 29 grey literature sources, the EGM includes 703 studies (668 impact evaluations and 35 systematic reviews). The evidence base is geographically skewed, with nearly half of the impact evaluations focused on China or India, and significant gaps exist for countries with the most pressing electrification needs, such as Burundi and South Sudan. While improved cookstoves are the most evaluated technology, there is a total lack of rigorous evidence for interventions involving insurance, risk guarantee instruments, push and pull finance, and advocacy and diplomacy.

The document highlights the severe economic and health costs of black carbon, noting that in China, short-term exposure in 2017 cost over US$7.5 billion and long-term exposure over US$53 billion. It asserts that reducing black carbon is a "triple win" that would protect glaciers, save millions of lives—including over 400,000 annually in India and nearly half a million in Sub-Saharan Africa—and improve gender equality by reducing the US$800 billion annual loss in women's productivity caused by unclean cooking fuels. Despite these benefits, the author notes that only 12 countries included black carbon targets in their first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and warns that transportation-related emissions in Africa could double by 2040.

The study finds that while induction stoves are more energy-efficient and generally welcomed by users, they are viewed as supplementary rather than full replacements for LPG due to constraints in kitchen space, power capacity, and the inability to replicate certain cooking styles effectively.

In July 2023, SEforALL partnered with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) to provide specialized training to energy planners from nine African countries. The program focused on geospatial data collection, curation, management, and governance to improve the planning of electrification and clean cooking access. Participants from countries including Madagascar, Malawi, and Rwanda are now applying these skills to develop national data governance plans and clean cooking models, utilizing tools such as OnStove.

The report finds that gender-responsive climate blended finance is scarce, with only 22% of climate deals in Convergence's database meeting the criteria. In the energy sector, gender focus is more prevalent in off-grid projects (28%) than on-grid projects (11%), largely due to the domestic nature of off-grid energy needs. The document highlights the role of concessional capital, technical assistance (TA), and performance-based incentives in driving gender outcomes. It provides case studies of vehicles like the Green Guarantee Company and Catalyst Fund to illustrate how blended finance can support women-led enterprises and increase female labor participation in technical roles. Key recommendations include deploying TA alongside financial incentives and utilizing equity to influence gender policies at early stages.

SEforALL reports significant progress in 2024, including the mobilization of USD 1.4 trillion in commitments through Energy Compacts and the facilitation of a USD 2 billion commitment for Mission 300 in Nigeria. The organization expanded electricity access for 48 million people in 2024 and advanced national energy policies in Kenya, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, while promoting sustainable cooling and clean cooking initiatives.

The report reveals a decline in international public finance for energy access, with electricity commitments peaking in 2018 and clean cooking funding showing extreme volatility. Significant regional and developmental disparities exist, with a heavy concentration of funds in a few countries like India, China, and Bangladesh, and a predominance of debt-based financing over grants. Case studies of Bangladesh and Kenya highlight that while both achieved significant access gains through concerted policy and financial efforts, they face ongoing challenges with system inefficiency and affordability.

SEforALL's 2024–2026 Strategic Plan focuses on achieving SDG7 and the Paris Agreement goals by operating at the nexus of energy, climate, and development. The strategy is built on three pillars: global advocacy to drive political and financial commitments, the development of scalable solutions and platforms to address systemic bottlenecks, and tailored in-country support to build national capacity. Cross-cutting priorities include clean cooking, gender and youth empowerment, and data intelligence. The organization estimates a total budgetary need of approximately USD 132 million over the three-year period, with annual resource needs growing by 20% to over USD 48 million.

The Energy Progress Report 2024 reveals that the world is not on track to achieve any of the 2030 targets for SDG 7. While 91% of the global population has electricity access, progress reversed in 2022, leaving 685.2 million people without power, with 83% of the deficit in Sub-Saharan Africa. Clean cooking access stands at 74%, but 2.1 billion people still rely on polluting fuels. Renewable energy's share in total final energy consumption was 18.7% in 2021, and global energy intensity improved by only 0.8% in 2021, far below the 2.6% target. International public financial flows to developing countries rebounded to USD 15.4 billion in 2022 but remain well below the 2016 peak of USD 28.5 billion.

The document identifies clean cooking as an "emergency brake" climate solution capable of reducing global cumulative emissions by 10% by 2040 if annual investments reach US$10 billion. It highlights the severe impacts of polluting fuels—including 3.2 million premature deaths annually and the emission of black carbon—while detailing co-benefits such as improved maternal and child health, reduced deforestation, and enhanced gender equality. The brief calls for a shift from case-by-case funding to innovative financing mechanisms and national-level policy integration to reach universal access by 2030.

Black carbon (BC), or soot, is a potent short-lived climate pollutant resulting from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. The report identifies the residential and transportation sectors as the primary sources, with China and India as the largest emitters. It highlights a 'triple win' of reducing BC: slowing global warming (particularly in the Arctic and Himalayas), preventing millions of premature deaths, and avoiding trillions in economic losses. Key recommendations include scaling clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, retrofitting diesel engines with particulate filters, regulating shipping fuels, and incorporating BC into national climate plans (NDCs).

The Green Economy Coalition responds to the IEA's Net Zero Roadmap and the International Climate and Energy Summit, emphasizing that while technology exists to limit warming to 1.5 °C, success depends on tripling renewable capacity, doubling energy efficiency, and reducing methane emissions by 75% by 2030. The Coalition argues that the transition must be 'people-centred' and based on 'eco-social contracts' to ensure marginalized voices are included and multilateral financial institutions are reformed to support emerging economies.

Nigeria faces a significant housing shortage of 17 million units, with a projected need for 700,000 units annually by 2050. The report finds that the policy environment for net zero carbon buildings is fragmented, lacking an overarching national strategy. While some financial instruments like concessional loans and green bonds are well-established, many others remain nascent or unused. The most severe barriers are political (lack of regulations and standards) and financial (lack of affordable finance and awareness of funding). The report recommends five priority areas: embodied carbon and materials, appliances and lighting, cooling, electricity generation, and clean cooking, proposing specific financial and policy pathways to scale these solutions.

The Nairobi Declaration asserts that Africa is disproportionately affected by climate change despite minimal historical responsibility. It calls for the global community to honor the $100 billion annual climate finance promise, operationalize the Loss & Damage fund, and reform the multilateral financial system to reduce the 'great financial divide' in borrowing costs. The declaration commits Africa to green industrialization, increasing renewable energy capacity to 300 GW by 2030, and valuing its natural capital. It specifically requests the re-channeling of $100 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to Africa and the reduction of corporate tax losses from profit shifting.

The Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI), co-led by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), and The Rockefeller Foundation, aims to scale voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) in Africa. Launched at COP27, the initiative focuses on directing international finance toward renewable energy, forestry, agriculture, e-mobility, and clean cooking to support decarbonization and green job creation. The ACMI roadmap includes 13 Action Programmes targeting supply, standards, intermediation, financing, and demand. As of April 2023, the initiative has secured approximately USD 200 million in Advance Market Commitments, with a target of USD 1 billion by COP28. Implementation efforts include the development of national Carbon Market Activation Plans (CMAPs) for Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Ghana, as well as the digitization of Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) processes and the creation of national carbon registries.

The Malawi Integrated Energy Planning (IEP) Tool, developed by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the Malawian government, provides geospatial analytics and modelling to optimize energy investments. The tool identifies the most cost-effective technologies—including grid expansion, mini-grids, and solar home systems—to address Malawi's low electrification rate (15%) and clean cooking access (1%). A specific module for health-facility electrification has already informed GIZ's installation of solar-battery systems at 93 health facilities.