Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2019 finds that global electrification rate reached 89 percent in 2017 and that the number of people without electricity access dropped to around 840 million, compared to 1 billion in 2016 and 1.2 billion in 2010.

Despite this progress, reaching the remaining unserved people, including those connected to frail and overburdened urban grids, as well as displaced people, and hard-to-reach locations, will be challenging. An estimated 650 million people will be left without electricity access in 2030. Most of these people will be in sub-Saharan Africa. Stronger political commitment, long-term planning, increased private financing and adequate policy and fiscal incentives will be crucial to achieve universal access.        

The report is a joint effort of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO). It is supported by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP).   

The Clean Cooking Industry Snapshot publication highlights investment and business model innovation in the clean cooking sector.

Read the press release here and below.

Read the full report online: www.cleancookingalliance.org/2019Snapshot

Download the full report here or share the attached PDF.

This updated version of Beyond Fire: How to achieve sustainable cooking is commissioned by Hivos and World Future Council and calculates the cost range for cooking with various different appliances in which both the upfront costs, as well as the ongoing usage-related costs are taken into account. The report concludes that the costs of cooking with electricity - both in mini-grid contexts and via solar home systems - is now well within the range of cost-competitiveness of other cooking alternatives. A potential breakthrough in the currently trapped cooking sector!

See this article for more information.

The publication is freely downloadable from the website here. 

For questions and/or remarks contact Merit Hindriks mhindriks@hivos.org. 

Burundi has come to the limit of the resource-population balance that would allow a sustainable expansion of its economy, according to the County Environmental Analysis report. Burundi is deforested and suffering from intensive land use and subsequent degradation, partly contributed to by the heavy reliance on biomass for fuel. Biomass fuel dependence is not only a contributor to deforestation is specific hotspots, but is also associated with household air pollution, a leading risk factor for ill health in most developing countries. Improved access to energy efficient technologies for cooking and soil restoration have been recognized as major opportunities for promoting economic and social development.

With funding from ESMAP, Starter, a consulting company in Italy initiated a pilot project in Burundi in 2017 with the goal of simultaneously addressing the energy and environment concerns. The project introduced ELSA improved clean cook stove to rural farming communities in Bujumbura Rural province of Burundi. The ELSA stove improves combustion efficiency by pyrolytic gasification and produces biochar as a byproduct. The stove can utilize different types of feedstock and was tested with palm oil kernels.

The preliminary results show great interest from families using the ELSA stove and biochar and confirm that the ELSA biochar system has cross-sectoral positive impacts.  The biochar application is expected to lead to an improvement in soil fertility and crop yield and enhance food security.

Achievements of the pilot biochar system introduction will be discussed, including the identified opportunities for integrating renewable energy management through agricultural biomass recycling via the clean-burning system that reduces wood use, improves indoor air quality and enhances soil fertility and crop productivity.                  

AGENDA            

Chair

Mr. Iain G. Shuker, Practice Manager, Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice, The World Bank

Presenters

Paola Agostini, Lead Natural Resources Management Specialist, The World Bank

Lucia Brusegan, Chief Executive Officer, STARTER

David Bluhm. STARTER

Laura Bano, STARTER

Discussant

Ms. Karen Bazex, Senior Energy Specialist, Africa Energy & Extractives Global Practice, The World Bank

Ms. Yabei Zhang, Sr. Energy Specialist, ESMAP, Energy & Extractives Global Practice, The World Bank

Speakers’ Bios  

 Ms. Paola Agostini is a Lead Natural Resources Economist at the World Bank. Her focus is on the interface between agriculture and natural resources management, with a strong focus on landscape restoration and on collaborating with the private sector. As Global Lead for Forests, Landscapes and Ecosystems at the World Bank, Paola Agostini has been the focal point for many of the landscape partnership (GLF, TFA2020 GPFLR, UNCCD), covering projects such as the Sahel and West Africa Program in support of the Great Green Wall or the Liberia Forest Program or the Burundi Landscape Restoration Program. Doctor Agostini is now focusing on programs to restore the degraded lands of Central Asia, including the Aral Sea. Paola Agostini holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California San Diego, and a Master of Art in Economic and Social Sciences from University Bocconi, Milan, Italy.             

Ms. Lucia Brusegan is CEO at Starter, an Italian consulting company dealing with sustainable agriculture, environment and energy solutions. Lucia has worked extensively in the strategic design, development and implementation of programs aimed at a balanced and sustainable growth of communities and at territorial development both in Africa and Europe. Her fields of expertise include capacity building and knowledge transfer of good practices and solutions through active involvement of relevant stakeholders and end users. She has been working on biochar systems introduction in African countries since 2008,  and chairs the Steering Committee of the Africa Biochar Partnership, the African continental platform for advancing biochar systems in Africa (ABP). Lucia holds an MA degree in history from the University of Padua (Italy).

Ms. Laura Bano has over 20 years’ experience in the energy sector in consulting, project development and finance with particular emphasis on regulation, support mechanisms and development of renewable energy sources. In the recent years she has been working on technology transfer and consulting for the development and project management of small/medium scale renewable energy facilities.

 Before this Laura was employed as a Manager in the Power and Utilities Group of Barclays Capital in London, in Edison Mission Energy’s Business Development Group in their European office in London and as an Economist with Italian energy consulting firm RIE.

 Laura has a Master’s degree in Economics from Bologna University and a Ph.D in “Energetics” from the University of Padova.

Mr. David Bluhm has over 30 years of international experience in agricultural and natural resource management projects in South East Asia and Africa with CARE, GTZ, SIDA, SDA, and has been working with Starter in implementation of research trials assessing biochar and phosphorous effects on common bean in farmers’ fields in Burundi. David has an MS degree in Forest Sciences and Biogeochemistry from Colorado State University and a BS degree in Natural Resources from Cornell University. David is currently doing a PhD on Soils and Crop Sciences at Cornell University, USA.

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Meeting number: 738 916 667|  Meeting password:  upysFre2

24x7 support: Internal: 5220-84336 | External: +1 202 458 4336

Call-in toll number (US/Canada): 1-650-479-3207 

For more information about this event, please contact Caroline Ochieng: cochieng2@worldbank.org  

ABOUT US         

The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) is a global knowledge and technical assistance partnership administered by the World Bank and funded by Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, the Rockefeller Foundation, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as the World Bank. ESMAP's mission is to assist clients--low and middle-income countries--to increase know-how and institutional capacity to achieve environmentally sustainable energy solutions for poverty reduction and economic growth. For more information, visit our website: www.esmap.org.