Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2018
Access to sustainable energy underpins many aspects of a healthy, sustainable economy. It is a child’s ability to turn on lights to study at night and connect to the internet, a family’s ability to cook indoors without inhaling smoke, and a business’s ability to operate and grow, creating jobs and opportunities.
Recognizing this, governments worldwide have set global targets for energy access in Sustainable De velopment Goal 7, which aims to ensure “universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. Today, with twelve years to go to achieve the goals, almost one bil- lion people still lack electricity and almost three billion people lack access to clean cooking (Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2018).
There are proven technologies and business models that can increase access to clean, affordable and reliable energy to help achieve the goals and spur sustainable development. However, financing these projects and enterprises continues to be a persistent challenge.