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The 2019 SEforALL Charrettes Report details a two-day design-thinking event held in June 2019 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The event brought together 115 diverse participants to generate 'disruptive solutions' to accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), specifically focusing on universal access to electricity and clean cooking by 2030.

The 2019 report 'Dynamiser le financement de l’accès à l’énergie : UN TOUR D’HORIZON', produced by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and Climate Policy Initiative, analyzes public and private financing for electricity and clean cooking access across 20 developing countries from 2013 to 2017. It highlights a significant gap between current investments and the funding required to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) by 2030, noting that while electricity funding reached a record in 2017, clean cooking finance collapsed and most funds do not reach the most vulnerable populations.

The 2019 Energizing Finance report reveals a significant funding gap for SDG7, with electricity and clean cooking investments falling far short of universal access needs. While electricity finance hit a record USD 36 billion in 2017, most went to grid-connected renewables and non-residential users, leaving off-grid solutions and Sub-Saharan Africa underfunded. Clean cooking finance collapsed by 73% in 2017 to USD 32 million. The report emphasizes the need for innovative financing and targeted support for vulnerable groups, particularly women.

The Energy Progress Report 2019, a joint publication by five custodian agencies, tracks global progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7). While the world is making progress in electricity access, renewable energy adoption, and energy efficiency, the report concludes that current ambition levels are insufficient to meet 2030 targets. Significant gaps remain in clean cooking access and electricity availability, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This case study examines Rwanda's efforts to increase access to clean cooking solutions through political will and private sector mobilization, while contextualizing the broader challenge of declining finance and rising numbers of people without clean cooking access in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This report introduces the concept of "undergrid minigrids" to improve electricity service for communities in sub-Saharan Africa that are within distribution company territories but remain underserved by unreliable or non-existent power.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) has developed the 'Village propre–Village productif' (Clean Village–Productive Village) framework to improve rural sanitation by integrating risk management with the productive recycling of local waste. The framework uses a phased certification system to motivate communities to move from basic sanitation to a comprehensive system that protects health and enhances agricultural productivity.

This report analyzes the conditions necessary for African states to achieve a demographic dividend, noting that most are currently several decades away due to high youth dependency and slow fertility declines. It argues that while global growth is slowing due to aging populations, Africa's expanding working-age population offers a comparative advantage if coupled with investments in contraception, female education, and basic infrastructure. The report warns that without these interventions and significant job creation, Africa will continue to diverge from global averages in income and health.

This briefing by RMI argues that mining companies in developing countries can improve financial and climate resilience by transitioning from inefficient diesel power to renewable energy. By co-creating business models with local communities, mining operations can address their own energy needs while expanding energy access and supporting sustainable development in remote regions.

This report by the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) South Africa examines the role of taxation in state-society relations within sub-Saharan Africa, specifically focusing on South Africa, Mozambique, and Cameroon. The authors argue that the effectiveness of a tax system depends not only on institutional design but also on the socio-political dynamics and societal perceptions that influence tax morale and voluntary compliance.

This report identifies and ranks the supply-side market barriers that increase the cost and limit the access of formal remittance services in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It analyzes the remittance value chain across the first, middle, and last miles, categorizing impediments into business case, regulatory, infrastructure, and consumer-related barriers. The study finds that SSA is the most expensive region globally for remittances, with an average cost of 9.4%, driven by a combination of rigid KYC requirements, a persistent preference for cash, and underdeveloped payment infrastructure.

This scoping report examines how global trends—including energy decentralization, affordability, mobile payments, women's entrepreneurship, urbanization, and humanitarian settings—affect gender equality and social inclusion in sustainable energy access, with specific analysis of five countries.

This policy brief, produced for the SEI-led project "Private Sector Finance for NDC Implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa" (PRINDCISSA), examines the role of the private sector in financing climate change mitigation in Sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on financial instruments backed by the UNFCCC and a specific national programme in South Africa to determine how the public sector can most efficiently incentivise private investment to meet nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

This policy brief by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the implementation of environmental and social (E&S) safeguards for infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on the tension between the prescriptive standards of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the desire for greater country ownership, specifically analyzing the World Bank's 2016 Environmental and Social Framework (ESF). The author argues for a shift toward country-specific safeguard plans, enhanced capacity building for national entities and state-owned enterprises, and the strengthening of accountability mechanisms to protect affected communities.

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the role of private-sector investment in climate change mitigation within Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on UNFCCC-backed instruments and national policies to identify effective levers for mobilising finance to meet nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

This research paper analyzes the USD 18-36 trillion climate investment gap in developing countries and identifies key barriers to scaling finance, such as access to capital and investor skill gaps. It evaluates the roles of various public finance actors—including MDBs, bilateral DFIs, and National Development Banks—highlighting that while NDBs provide the largest flows, they often lack risk mitigation tools. The authors recommend that public actors adopt more flexible capital strategies, harmonize standards, and shift from project-specific finance to broader financial system development to better leverage private investment.

This FSD Africa briefing highlights the persistent gender gap in financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa and presents Savings Groups as a successful strategy for empowerment. These member-owned groups provide low-income women with access to savings, credit, and insurance, serving as a pathway to formal financial services. The FSD Network has invested over $28 million since 2008 to expand these groups across several African nations and is partnering with the SEEP Network to generate evidence on their impact on women's empowerment.

The policy brief argues that while G20 initiatives are largely aligned with the AU's Agenda 2063 and the UN's 2030 Agenda, there are critical gaps in regional economic integration and the addressing of inequality. It recommends that South Africa and other African participants leverage the G20 to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development, while ensuring G20 actions are monitored and rationalized against African priorities.

This guide, published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in 2018, provides a framework and a financial model developed by the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) to estimate the costs of tax incentives in the mining sector. It specifically focuses on calculating both the direct revenue losses and the indirect costs resulting from 'behavioral responses'—actions taken by investors to maximize financial benefits from incentives, which often lead to unforeseen revenue losses for governments.

This guidance note, published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in 2018, provides a framework and a financial model for governments to estimate the direct and behavioral costs of tax incentives in the mining industry. It emphasizes that investors may alter their behavior to maximize financial gains from incentives, leading to unforeseen revenue losses for the state.