The Clean Energy Initiative

Foreword by Director General of Norad, Jon Lomøy:

Access to sustainable, affordable, and reliable energy services is crucial for eradicating poverty, spurring economic growth, and ensuring environmental sustainability. I am proud to present The Clean Energy Initiative, Results Report 2007-2015, accounting for the breadth of Norwegian support to the energy sector.

The Initiative has contributed towards improved access to modern energy services for at least eighteen million people and 6 000 MW new electricity generation capacity.

In addition, support to improve institutional capacity of governments and electricity utilities has contributed to increased investments and better natural resource management in a number of partner countries. Some interventions can document that they have also had a positive impact on livelihoods, employment, and social services. It also illustrates that support to the energy sector needs to take a long-term perspective, from planning to infrastructure building, and from developing enabling regulatory frameworks to building the capacity to manage and operate effective energy systems.

There is no quick fix. Fragile states are fraught with high risk and setbacks, and are all the more reliant on grant support, whereas other countries begin to attract commercial investors and accelerate new generation capacity investment.

At least two-thirds of greenhouse-gas emissions come from the energy sector. The world’s poorest people are vulnerable to both energy poverty and climate change. Load shedding and unreliable power supply results in industrial production loss, slower economic growth and employment, as well as negatively affecting schools, hospitals and households. This in turn leads to widespread use of diesel generators, which is costly and polluting.

Nearly three billion people use open fires or inefficient stoves for daily cooking and heating. Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that exposure to smoke from the simple act of cooking constitutes the fourth leading risk factor for disease in developing countries, and causes 4,3 million premature deaths per year. To ensure no-one is left behind, a transition to clean and affordable energy is vital.

As confirmed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal for Energy (SDG7) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change entered into force in 2016, the global community must continue to support sustainable energy development.

Norway, along with its many development partners, will continue to strive to make a difference, by supporting countries, programmes and organizations that inch us towards the global goal of universal access to sustainable energy.