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Building Macroeconomic Resilience Through Counter-Cyclical Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa
The report examines macroeconomic resilience in 12 sub-Saharan African countries, focusing on the use of monetary and fiscal instruments to stabilise production and inflation cycles. It identifies commodity price downcycles as the most consistent trigger for economic crises and argues that currency regimes significantly influence a nation's ability to absorb shocks. The author develops the CoMPRA-MERI index to track resilience across seven dimensions: fiscal, monetary, external debt, trade, investment, governance, and human capital. Findings suggest that most countries exhibit procyclical outcomes due to structural constraints, though Uganda is noted as a successful exception in applying countercyclical tools. The report recommends trade diversification and a shift toward more flexible exchange rate regimes to enhance structural resilience.
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Document type: Report
Reducing cooling-related electricity demand with energy efficiency (SDG7.3)
The report highlights that without proactive efficiency measures, the adoption of cooling appliances in households at risk could require over 240 TWh of annual electricity by 2030. It argues that implementing best-available technologies (BAT) and stringent building energy codes can offset this demand, potentially saving 18–35 TWh through improved building envelopes alone.
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Document type: Report
Expanding modern cooling services with energy efficiency (SDG7.3)
The report argues that energy efficiency is a critical catalyst for expanding cooling services to low-income households. While basic electricity access (SDG7.1) is often insufficient for energy-intensive appliances, the adoption of Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) could make 1.07 billion more appliances compatible with available electricity services by 2030. Specifically, MEPS could make an additional 133 million refrigerator-freezers and 15 million air conditioners viable for households at medium and low risk in high-impact countries. While fans are already widely compatible, stringent MEPS are needed to reduce their overall energy demand and free up household resources.
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Document type: Report
Challenges in vaccine rollout linked to cooling
Insufficient cold chain logistics and unreliable electricity access are estimated to leave approximately 2.7 billion people without dependable vaccine access. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a significant portion of health facilities lack reliable power, undermining healthcare quality and vaccine efficacy. To mitigate these gaps, organizations like Gavi and UNICEF are deploying solar-powered refrigeration, while the World Bank provides financing for health system strengthening and cold chain equipment.
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Document type: Report
Global Tracking Framework
The Global Tracking Framework establishes a baseline and monitoring system for the SE4ALL 2030 goals. While the world saw significant gains between 1990 and 2010, population and economic growth have diluted these impacts, making 'business as usual' insufficient. Achieving the goals will require an additional $600–800 billion in annual investment, bold policy shifts such as phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, and critical progress in 'high-impact' countries, particularly China and India.
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Document type: Executive summary
G20 Energy Access Action Plan: Voluntary Collaboration on Energy Access
The G20 Energy Access Action Plan focuses its first phase on improving electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 620 million people lack power. The plan proposes six key areas for collaboration: policy and regulatory environments, technology deployment, investment and finance, capacity building, regional integration, and coordination. It emphasizes a flexible, voluntary approach that respects national sovereignty over energy mixes. The document also compiles 'good practice' case studies from G20 members—including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, and Turkey—and details specific international development projects in Africa led by the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, as well as the African Union's Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility.
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Document type: Report
Powering Healthcare Africa Project (2021-2023)
The Powering Healthcare Africa Project (2021-2023), supported by Power Africa and led by SEforALL, seeks to close the energy access gap in healthcare facilities across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The project focuses on equipping governments with evidence and solutions to reach universal health facility electrification by 2030 through six key activity areas: data and mapping, coordination and collaboration, thought leadership on clean energy solutions, advocacy, innovative finance, and country-level strategic advisory.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Integrating Clean Cooking into National Energy Access Planning Tools and Considerations for Planning and Implementing eCooking
The report argues that electrification and clean cooking have historically been treated as separate sectors, leading to inefficient energy planning. It advocates for 'integrated energy planning' that leverages the synergies between electricity access and eCooking to accelerate the transition away from biomass. The document reviews various modelling approaches—including energy system planning, sub-sector planning, and geospatial energy access planning—and highlights the Integrated Clean Cooking Plan Tool (ICCPT) in Rwanda as a significant methodological advance. It also details the policy, financial, and data requirements necessary to operationalize these plans, such as eCooking tariffs, results-based financing, and digital monitoring, reporting and verification (dMRV) for carbon finance.
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Document type: Report
Mini-Grid Emissions Tool Cover note
The Mini-Grid Emissions Tool, developed by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), addresses the lack of standardized carbon tracking in the mini-grid sector. Unlike previous methods that rely on a single default emissions factor and total energy generated, this tool calculates emissions avoided based on actual energy consumed and the diverse range of previous energy sources used by customers. It incorporates specific data for different household energy access tiers, kerosene lamp types, and fossil fuel generator efficiencies to provide a more accurate estimate of climatic benefits.
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Document type: Guide
The Gender-Energy Nexus in the AI Era: Challenges and Opportunities
The report examines the 'gender-energy nexus' in the era of AI, highlighting how the digital gender divide and energy poverty disproportionately affect women. It identifies critical challenges, including gender bias in AI development, a deficit of sex-disaggregated energy data, and the risk of AI data centres diverting resources from low-income communities. The authors argue that while AI can optimize energy systems, its current development lacks gender diversity and funding for SDG5 (Gender Equality). The report recommends increasing women's representation in STEM, implementing gender-lens investing, and ensuring women are decision-makers in AI and energy policy to achieve a just transition.
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Document type: Report
DYNAMISER LE FINANCEMENT DE L’ACCÈS À L’ÉNERGIE : UN TOUR D’HORIZON
The report finds that while electricity financing in 20 high-potential countries rose by 56% to $30.2 billion annually between 2013-2014 and 2015-2016, this remains far below the $52 billion needed for universal access by 2030. Financing is heavily skewed toward non-residential consumers and grid-connected technologies, with a concerning increase in fossil fuel investments, particularly coal. Sub-Saharan Africa faces a widening investment gap, receiving only 17% of total electricity funding. Meanwhile, clean cooking financing declined by 5% to $30 million, a fraction of the $4.4 billion required annually.
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Document type: Executive summary
Energizing Finance
The report finds that global finance for energy access is insufficient, with electricity commitments reaching only half of the required USD 52 billion annually and clean cooking funding declining to USD 30 million. While electricity finance increased to USD 30.2 billion in 20 high-impact countries, it is heavily concentrated in Asia, particularly India, while Sub-Saharan Africa sees declining investments and a shift toward fossil fuels. Clean cooking remains severely underfunded, relying heavily on international grants. Case studies highlight India's success in mobilizing private finance for renewables and Indonesia's use of government subsidies to scale LPG adoption.
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Document type: Report
Energizing health: accelerating electricity access in health-care facilities
The report identifies a critical gap in electricity access for health-care facilities in low- and middle-income countries, estimating that nearly 1 billion people are served by facilities with no or unreliable power. It argues that reliable electricity is a fundamental enabler of universal health coverage, essential for life-saving services such as maternal care, immunization, and emergency response. The document provides a comprehensive framework for electrification, emphasizing decentralized renewable energy—particularly solar PV—as a cost-effective and climate-resilient alternative to grid extension. It estimates an urgent investment need of US$ 4.9 billion to bring facilities in 63 assessed countries up to minimal electrification levels. Key recommendations include moving from an 'install and forget' to an 'install and maintain' approach, integrating health and energy sector planning, and utilizing geospatial tools for precise needs assessments.
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Document type: Report
Powering Healthcare Impact Factsheet
The document examines the critical link between reliable electricity and the quality of healthcare in resource-constrained settings. It highlights that unreliable power affects nearly 60% of health facilities in 46 low- and middle-income countries, leading to equipment failure and reduced service capacity. The factsheet advocates for off-grid solar solutions as a cheaper and more reliable alternative to grid extension or diesel generators, citing significant improvements in maternal health, disease diagnosis, and staff and patient satisfaction in countries like India, Uganda, Ghana, and Zambia.
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Document type: Fact sheet
THREADS OF TRANSFORMATION
The fashion industry is a major contributor to global carbon emissions and water pollution, with a supply chain heavily reliant on fossil fuels and concentrated in low- and middle-income countries. Women comprise over 60% of the global garment workforce but face systemic barriers, including limited access to sustainable energy and underrepresentation in leadership. The report advocates for the adoption of renewable energy, circular fashion models, and gender-responsive policies to drive a sustainable transition. Key recommendations include scaling financial support for women-led SMEs, investing in green skills training, and implementing mandatory supply chain transparency to address environmental and social inequities.
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Document type: Report
an_energy_vision_for_a_planet_under_pressure_-_xo-12-002-458f53d9f9b884df.pdf
This policy brief, produced to inform the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, outlines a long-term vision for transforming global energy systems to achieve sustainability. It argues that a fundamental shift is necessary to address simultaneous challenges of energy access, climate change, air pollution, and energy security, emphasizing that such a transition is technologically and economically achievable but requires integrated policy frameworks and scaled-up investments.
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Document type: Policy brief
FACT SHEET Food, water, sanitation challenges
The fact sheet identifies Sub-Saharan Africa as a food shortage hotspot and proposes combining soil, water, and nutrient management—specifically through ecological sanitation—to close the yield gap and build climate resilience.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Household Energy in Developing Countries: A Burning Issue
The document highlights that over three billion people rely on traditional solid fuels, causing significant indoor air pollution and contributing to 1.6 million annual deaths. It notes that black carbon from these fuels accounts for 18% of global GHG emissions. The brief advocates for 'source' interventions, such as LPG, ethanol, and improved stoves, and emphasizes the need for consumer choice analysis to ensure technology adoption, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
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Document type: Policy brief
nce-sei-2015-transforming-household-energy-sub-saharan-africa-180877fa722c1fa7.pdf
This research paper, prepared by the Stockholm Environment Institute for the New Climate Economy, examines the health, economic, and environmental impacts of traditional biomass cooking in sub-Saharan Africa. It analyzes the challenges of transitioning to clean cooking energy and provides case studies from Mali, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Kenya to identify success factors for scaling up improved cookstove interventions.
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Document type: Research paper
Unraveling biofuel impacts on ecosystem services, human wellbeing and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa
The project, running from October 2013 to October 2015, seeks to identify strategies to minimize trade-offs between biofuel production and rural wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa. It employs field-based research at case study sites in Malawi, Swaziland, and Mozambique, focusing on sugar cane and jatropha feedstocks. The study examines various ecosystem services—including climate regulation and water—and dimensions of poverty such as food security and energy poverty, with a specific focus on Malawi's long-term experience with biofuel blending in transport fuel.
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Document type: Fact sheet