ESMAP is a partnership between the World Bank and 19 partners to help low and middle-income countries reduce poverty and boost growth through sustainable energy solutions. ESMAP’s analytical and advisory services are fully integrated within the World Bank’s country financing and policy dialogue in the energy sector.
Access to sustainable energy is a key enabler for economic growth, health, education, and helps provide opportunities to all generations and populations. Sustainable energy lies at the heart of both the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as other policy programmes and initiatives. The 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) sets out to ensure “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”.
Energy poverty is a global problem: access to energy services is crucial to meet basic household needs, deliver and access public services, and generate income. Less than 10 percent of Sub-Saharan (SSA) rural households have access to electricity, with an overall access rate below 25 percent. One of the main obstacles for SSA electrification practitioners is the difficulty in obtaining practical and timely knowledge on how to overcome economic, technical, institutional, and political barriers to electrification in their day-to-day work.