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A Roadmap for Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Island Nations: Three Success Factors for the Eastern Caribbean’s Transition from Fossil Fuels
The Eastern Caribbean has struggled in recent years, as natural disasters – combined with the COVID-19 pandemic – have caused a precipitous drop in the tourism revenues it depends on. But as Pepukaye Bardouille at the IFC explains, transitioning to renewable energy could help address this challenge, reducing the region’s cost of electricity, supporting its climate resilience, limiting its dependence on imported fossil fuels, and producing jobs outside the tourism sector. She presents three success factors for achieving this transition – insights that could also be applicable to other island nations.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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How Global Corporations Can Boost Local Renewable Energy Production: The Transformative Potential of D-RECs in Emerging Markets
If the world hopes to address climate change, large corporations must transition away from fossil fuels for their power needs. To that end, corporations can buy renewable energy certificates, allowing them to claim renewable energy use and meet their climate commitments, while providing needed funding to renewable projects. But as Beatrice Kennedy at Powertrust points out, emerging markets generally lack access to this solution. She explores how distributed renewable energy certificates (D-RECs) can address this gap, leveraging blockchain and open-source technology to create a global marketplace for renewable energy generated in emerging countries.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
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A Gender-Smart Renewable Energy Transition: Why Climate Change Solutions Can’t Overlook Inequality
The Sustainable Development Goals recognize gender equality (SDG 5) and affordable and clean energy (SDG 7) as imminent priorities. Yet Rachel Murphy at Deetken Impact argues that women have been left out of the clean energy conversation – and that the world is running out of time to meaningfully change course. She explains why no single SDG can be achieved without the integration of both a gender and climate perspective, and explores how can the energy industry can move toward greater inclusion and empowerment of women.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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The Low-Hanging Fruit of Energy Access: Unlocking the Potential of Energy Efficiency Solutions for African Businesses
You’ve likely heard plenty of discussion of the approximately 600 million people who lack basic access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. But Adam Fitzwilliam at Camco Clean Energy points out that it's not just individuals who are energy poor: The region's business sector also needs access to reliable, renewable electricity. He explains why focusing on energy efficiency is one of the most cost-effective ways to address energy demand in the commercial and industrial sector, and explores why these efforts haven’t taken off yet in most sub-Saharan African markets.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Finance
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Using Blended Finance to Navigate the Pandemic: How an Innovative Funding Vehicle is Helping SMEs Survive COVID-19 and Advance the SDGs
Emerging economies' progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is behind schedule, and COVID-19 has set their efforts back even further. Margi Goelz at Georgetown University and Bridget Bradley at Tetra Tech discuss the value of blended finance in closing these countries' estimated $2.5 trillion annual SDG funding gap. They explore how an innovative blended finance facility has helped a Kenya-based energy company navigate the pandemic and contribute to the SDGs, and how this approach can support other small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy, Finance
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Access Alone is Not Enough: Why a Holistic Approach is Necessary to Develop Lasting Energy Solutions
With about 800 million people lacking reliable electricity, energy access is one of the defining issues – and opportunities – of our time. According to Peter Weston at Energy 4 Impact and David Nicholson at Mercy Corps, that's what drove the recent merger of their two organizations. But as they explain, to unlock the full impact of energy access, it's important to ensure that people, businesses and communities can capitalize on it. They explore how a comprehensive market system approach can produce energy solutions that work for farmers, entrepreneurs and others.
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- Agriculture, Energy, Entrepreneurship, Environment
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Understanding COVID-19’s Impact on PAYGo Solar: Data From a Pioneering Study Reveals Key Insights About the Sector’s Financial Sustainability
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on PAYGo solar, causing up to 23 million people and 600,000 enterprises to miss out on improved energy access. Drew Corbyn at GOGLA, Bill Gallery at IFC and Roan Borst at Triple Jump share the results of a first-of-its-kind study that measured the impact of the crisis on the sector’s financial performance, based on data collected from 13 PAYGo solar companies. They discuss what these findings mean for the industry as it works to emerge from the pandemic’s ongoing disruptions.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy, Finance, Impact Assessment
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Failing to Learn from Failure is Undermining Energy Access: Why the Lack of Transparent Discussion is Putting SDG7 at Risk
Despite the clear need for sustainable energy and clean cooking solutions, energy access projects frequently fail – and all too often, these failures go unreported. According to Iwona Bisaga at Modern Energy Cooking Services and Julia Tomei and Tash Perros at University College London, the lack of discussion of failures is holding back progress toward global energy access. They share insights from a new study that examines what failure means to different actors across the sector, assesses the different types of failures that occur, and explores why the topic is so rarely discussed.
- Categories
- Energy, Entrepreneurship, Environment
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