MPs: UK must protect aid for community-led energy access

In December last year Professor Vanesa Castán Broto submitted evidence to a call from the International Development Committee in Parliament based on our research and findings from out ESRC GCRF funded project Community Energy Systems and Sustainable Energy Transitions in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique (CESET).

We  are delighted to report that the House of Commons report – Empowering Development: Energy Access for Communities – sites our work, including the definition of community energy and table outlining the benefits of community energy projects.

The report outlines how the UK should protect its funding for community-led energy access or risk endangering the long-term success of programmes that have shown tangible impact, a committee of MPs has found. 

The Committee finds that UK aid has delivered “tangible” progress towards improving energy access: 92% of the world’s population now have access, compared to 78% in 2000. But more than 600 million people still lack access and 3.2 million people a year die prematurely from cooking with traditional biomass or polluting fuels. 

Achieving universal energy access is important for global development goals and the UK’s strategic interests, MPs say. Clean energy initiatives offer opportunities for UK business, help to foster stable, prosperous partners in lower-income countries, and offer lessons for the UK’s transition to net zero. 

But MPs argue that UK-funded energy access initiatives could be at risk without predictable support. The Committee calls for the Government to provide greater predictability in its programmes. To ensure the long-term success of UK support, the Government should commit to multi-year funding structures that support projects across their full life cycle. 

The Committee also recommends the Government ensure that multilateral funding offers opportunities to scale community energy projects and use the UK’s convening power to foster local innovation, for example by facilitating partnerships or exchanges between the UK and counterparts in lower-income countries. 

The Committee finds that the relationship between energy access and climate change is often oversimplified. The hardest to reach communities contribute very little to global emissions and the primary goal of energy access schemes is to reduce energy poverty, rather than meet climate goals. 

The Committee argues that the Government should not “hide behind the complexities of the global clean energy transition”; aid must advance poverty alleviation while contributing to climate mitigation and adaptation. 

It recommends that the Government provide a clear definition of clean energy for ODA, explicitly stating the energy sources supported, and require all energy access projects to clearly assess the trade-offs between poverty and climate goals in funding bids.

 Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Committee, said:

“Previous governments have shown admirable leadership in boosting access to clean energy. Our funding has made a real difference; we must not let that progress slip.  Community-led initiatives can make a real difference. They reach groups often overlooked by commercially driven projects, transforming societies in the process. 

The deadline to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 – affordable and clean energy access for all – is fast approaching. We need to ensure that our funding is secure and our programmes predictable to secure success in the long-term. 

By sharing our knowledge and helping to build local capacity, we can ensure that global energy access continues to be charged up, not powered down.” 

Access the report publication: Empowering Development: Energy Access for Communities