10 October 2011: International Energy Agency (IEA) has published a report titled “Energy For All: Financing Access for the Poor,” which stresses the urgent need to increase more than five times funding for energy poverty and energy access to enable provision of energy for all.

The report is an advance excerpt of the IEA’s flagship publication, the World Energy Outlook 2011, and was released at the Energy For All Conference in Oslo, Norway. It notes that about 20% of the global population currently lacks access to electricity and 40% of the population is without clean cooking facilities. The report estimates that in 2009, approximately US$9.1 billion was invested globally in improving access to modern energy services and without significant new policies, from 2010 to 2030 this number will increase to approximately US$14 billion per year, primarily for on‐grid electricity connections in urban areas.

The report emphasizes this level of investment will leave one billion people without electricity, indicating that major policy shifts are required to improve energy access. It estimates that approximately US$48 billion per year are needed to provide universal energy access by 2030, amounting to 3% of global annual energy investments. It also stresses that there is no fundamental tension between achieving universal energy access, climate mitigation and energy security.

It outlines five actions for improving energy access globally: adopting clear and consistent political priorities on energy access, including specific national targets; mobilizing additional investments; fostering massive growth in private sector involvement in providing access to energy; targeting multilateral and bilateral aid at areas that do not provide initial commercial returns; and undertaking regular and comprehensive data collection to monitor progress. [IEA Press Release] [Publication: Energy For All: Financing Access for the Poor]