CHAPTER 4
4.2 PRIORITY ACTION AREAS TO SCALE UP PROGRESS
Decentralised renewable energy solutions must be scaled up in a timely manner to reach the 2030 target of universal access. The necessary scale-up will require concerted action by development partners, financing institutions, local and international private sectors, civil society and academia, led by bold, ambitious action by national and local governments.
Mainstream energy access as a national and regional priority Given its central role in achieving socio-economic development goals, universal energy access must be a national, regional and global priority, as well as a key pillar of COVID-19 recovery plans. Less than a decade remains to reach the SDG 7 target and a yawning gap still exists between where the world is today and where it needs to be in terms of targets, actual investment flows and progress on the ground. The solutions now exist, and it is imperative that governments, development finance institutions and other stakeholders commit and act now at the scale needed to reach universal energy access by 2030. The United Nations High-Level Dialogue on Energy in 2021 reiterated the importance of accelerating action to achieve universal energy access by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050 with an emphasis on leaving no one behind and strengthening inclusion. At a regional level, development finance institutions are raising commitment for investing in energy access. “Light Up & Power Africa” is one of five priority areas for the African Development Bank. The Asian Development Bank’s 2021 Energy Policy includes support for electrification and cleaner fuels for cooking, heating and cooling as one of five key principles (ADB, 2021). At a national level, significant efforts are still needed to strengthen commitment to energy access. Out of 64 countries with electricity access deficits, under half have targets for the adoption of renewablesbased solutions for energy access (REN21, 2021a). In Africa, only about 20 countries have a clean cooking target and fewer than 30 have a renewables target in their electrification plans (IRENA and AfDB, 2022). A few countries, such as Nigeria, have included renewables-based access targets in their COVID-19 recovery plans. Meanwhile, many countries still lack targets for energy access.
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