bne IntelliNews – For the first time in a decade, global energy access is starting to decline

Population growth means that access to global energy has begun to decline for the first time in a decade despite massive investments in clean energy to fight the climate crisis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says in a new report.

The number of people living without electricity increased in 2022 for the first time in over a decade. Currently, 685 million people do not have access to it, which is 10 million more than in 2021.

“To achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7, we will need significantly greater investment in emerging and developing economies to increase access to electricity and clean cooking and fuel technologies,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. “Currently, only a fraction of total energy investment goes to countries where electricity access and clean cooking issues are critical, not least of all in sub-Saharan Africa.”

The report was prepared by 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 finds that the world remains on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 on energy by 2030. SDG 7 is about ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy,” the IEA said in a press release.

The hardest hit region remains sub-Saharan Africa, where 570 million people (over 80% of the world’s population has no access to electricity) live without electricity, an increase from 2010 levels.

The world is still far from achieving universal access to clean cooking by 2030. Up to 2.1 billion people still rely on polluting fuels and cooking technologies, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Traditional biomass use means that households spend up to 40 hours a week collecting firewood and cooking, making it harder for women to work or participate in local decision-making, and preventing children from going to school.

Household air pollution from the use of polluting fuels and cooking technologies causes 3.2 million premature deaths each year.

The consumption of electricity from renewable sources increased by over 6% y/y in 2021, increasing the share of renewables in global electricity consumption to 28.2%. Installed renewable energy generation capacity per capita reached a new global record of 424 watts in 2022. However, there are still significant differences, with developed countries having 1,073 watts per capita, which is 3.7 times higher than developing countries, which are 293 watts per capita.

The rate of improvement in energy intensity in 2021 increased slightly by 0.8% compared to 0.6% in the previous year. Despite this, progress remains below the long-term average. The slow progress came during a solid economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, during which annual growth in energy consumption was the highest in 50 years. To achieve SDG 7.3, average annual improvement by 2030 must now accelerate to over 3.8%.

International public financial flows supporting clean energy in developing countries increased to $15.4 billion in 2022, an increase of 25% compared to 2021. However, this amount is still about half of the peak in 2016 , which amounted to USD 28.5 billion.

Under current policies, an estimated 660 million people will still lack access to electricity by 2030, and an estimated 1.8 billion people will lack access to clean cooking technologies and fuels. Progress in energy efficiency indicators is also lagging, at just 2.3%, well below the level needed to achieve SDG 7.