Across the world, the clean energy transition is being shaped by people who refuse to accept that energy poverty is inevitable. They are entrepreneurs, programme leaders, innovators and advocates working on the frontlines of energy access.

Several of those changemakers were recognized through our inaugural Energy Heroes Awards, which celebrate individuals and organizations driving real-world progress on energy access, clean cooking and sustainable development.

Their stories are also a reminder of something deeper: when more women lead in energy,  solutions become more inclusive, resilient and grounded in real lives.

A reality close to home

Paola Rodriguez, now General Manager at Soluz Honduras, began her journey in the energy sector there as a consultant.

What she encountered changed her perspective.

“Meeting our customers, most of them women, opened my eyes to the challenges families were facing just a few hours from my own home,” she recalls.

Her work focuses on bringing affordable solar power to families in remote communities, many of whom live in extreme poverty, through innovative financing and results-based subsidies.

For many families, it is their first reliable source of electricity.

Powering opportunity across Africa

Thousands of kilometres away in Mozambique, Javier Ayala, Energy Sector Lead for the BRILHO programme, helps to scale clean energy solutions that expand access for millions.

By the end of 2025, BRILHO had supported the growth of more than 56,000 small businesses and improved access to clean cooking and solar energy for 4.1 million people. 

For Javier, the impact is most visible in everyday moments.

“Seeing women-led businesses thrive because they now have reliable power or children studying at night under solar light reminds me that energy access is not just about technology. It's about dignity, opportunity and hope.” 

The people behind the transition

Across Southeast Asia, Natasha Allen has focused on strengthening the workforce behind decentralized solar systems.

Through training programmes and partnerships, her work helps technicians and communities develop the skills needed to install, maintain and expand solar systems.

But for Natasha, the most powerful impact is what happens after the training ends.

“Many of our alumni are now leading installations, mentoring new technicians or bringing solar power to places that had no reliable electricity,” she says. “The real impact is the growing network of people who now have the skills and confidence to keep that work going.” 

Unlocking climate finance 

For Deborah Fadeyi, founder of ecoWise, the challenge lies in something less visible but equally critical: financing clean energy projects.

Her work focuses on developing digital systems that allow distributed solar projects to participate in carbon markets — unlocking new financial pathways for clean energy deployment.

It’s also deeply personal.

Experiencing energy poverty during childhood shaped her understanding of how essential electricity is to everyday life.

“Energy is a powerful multiplier,” she explains. “When people have reliable access, it unlocks productivity, education, healthcare and economic opportunity.”

Why women’s leadership matters

There’s a single thread connecting these leaders: they are clearing the path for others to lead.

Paola brings first-time energy access to rural communities. Natasha turns technical training into lifelong careers. Deborah takes it even further and builds the financial systems that turn local wins into global scale. Javier shifts perspectives, reminding us that inclusion is not simply about letting people in the door. It’s about redesigning the room so everyone can thrive.

Ultimately, these stories prove that energy systems are only as powerful as the lives they finally reach.

Every year, nearly three million people die prematurely every year from illnesses associated with exposure to smoke from polluting open fires or inefficient stoves, with women the most affected. Women suffer from health issues caused by smoke inhaled when cooking on a traditional, fire-driven stove. Moving from traditional cooking fuels to cooking driven by electricity - also known as clean cooking - is therefore a key solution to achieving gender equality, addressing climate change and improving the health and safety of communities.

Consequently, women play a critical role in increasing awareness and generating demand for clean cooking solutions, and the clean cooking value chain offers powerful pathways for women’s economic empowerment. 

Yet, women continue to face financial, social and structural barriers to their access to clean cooking technologies and employment in the clean cooking sector. Recognizing this SEforALL, the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), and the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition (GWNET) launched the Women in Clean Cooking (WiCC) Mentorship Programme, an initiative empowering women professionals to drive change through mentorship, knowledge exchange and leadership development. To date, 262 women have received mentorship through the WiCC programme, advancing their careers in the clean cooking sector. 

This Women’s History Month, in recognition of the International Women’s Day 2026 theme of Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls, SEforALL highlights the inspiring journey of Aqeela Mughal, a Project Coordinator at Revive Environment Pvt. Ltd., and her mentor Joseph Hwani, an Energy and Environment Expert. This story demonstrates how mentorship can ignite sustainable impact to #EmPowerHer.
 

Building confidence and community

Aqueela started working with clean cooking in 2021. She has sought to improve the cooking conditions of women and children exposed to traditional fire-driven stove cooking given the benefits of the Improved Cookstove (IC) on health, environmental conservation and energy access. This led her to working with carbon removal projects, clean cooking programme implementation and researching environmental and sustainability subjects. 

“I recognized the need for strategic guidance to scale and impact more effectively. I sought mentorship to bridge the gap between implementation and long-term sustainability, particularly in areas like market development, user behavior change, policy alignment and carbon financing,” Aqeela shares.  

Enter her mentor, Joseph, whose academic and professional career in renewable energy research and development led to his contributions to sustainable development across Africa, Europe and Australia. 

For Joseph, being a mentor is a source of inspiration. “Thanks to the WiCC Mentorship Programme, I have had the opportunity to live this passion, sharing knowledge and experiences while supporting my mentee in achieving her aspirations,” he shares.

Through their mentorship, Aqeela and Joseph explored technical and strategic themes, from proposal writing to carbon financing and user-focused clean cooking design. Aqeela reflects that the most powerful piece of advice she received was Joseph’s reminder that “technical efficiency alone doesn’t lead to impact; it must be paired with cultural, behavioral and economic fit.”

For Joseph, the mentorship has been equally rewarding: “These exchanges not only strengthened Aqeela’s capacity but also enhanced my own collaborative approach, reinforcing the power of listening with the intent to understand."

Clean cooking as empowerment

With her mentor’s support, Aqeela now views clean cooking not as a purely technical intervention, but as a catalyst for education, livelihoods and resilience in underserved communities. Aqeela’s reflections underline the importance of her mentorship experience in pairing technical knowledge with advocacy and social innovation, reflecting that the experience has given her the confidence to pursue roles that create both social and environmental impact. Her work in the sector now focuses on “the people whose lives it will change,” she tells us.

Joseph adds that watching Aqeela “secure funding and achieve certification of her stoves has been deeply rewarding. Her success is a testament to her determination and a reminder of how impactful mentorship can be in shaping careers and advancing sustainable solutions.”

Celebrating women powering the energy transition

Aqeela and Joseph’s story illustrates how mentorship can shape careers and communities at once. It is a testament to the power of investing in women, and how shared expertise accelerates progress towards sustainable development goals.

As SEforALL celebrates Women’s History Month, we reinforce our commitment to supporting the women transforming energy systems and leading their communities towards a more sustainable future. 

Learn more about Joseph and Aqeela’s mentorship journey through the WiCC Programme.

This Women's History Month and in honour of International Women’s Day 2026, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) continues to champion gender and youth mainstreaming to drive an equitable energy transition. SEforALL recognizes a critical truth: we cannot achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) if we leave half the population and the next generation behind. Year round, SEforALL commits to #EmPowerHer by putting women and girls at the centre of the energy transition and championing inclusive growth. Through our Gender & Youth Programme, SEforALL positions mainstreaming as a core pillar, ensuring gender perspectives are embedded within all policies, programmes and interventions. 

What is gender & youth mainstreaming?

Gender & youth mainstreaming is the process of assessing the implications for women, men, girls and boys of any planned action. By embedding gender and youth perspectives into the design, implementation and monitoring of energy interventions, we ensure that sustainable energy for all reaches even the most marginalized communities. This approach transforms women and young people from beneficiaries of energy into the co-creators and leaders of the energy transition.
 

Who should mainstream gender & youth?

Gender & youth mainstreaming is not just for international organizations. It is a vital tool for energy developers who are designing rural mini-grids, policymakers who draft national electrification plans and compacts, corporate leaders aiming to diversify their talent pipeline and event organizers shaping global energy discourse.

Integrating gender and youth perspectives into standard operating procedures is not just about equity, it is about effectiveness. Projects that consider the lived experiences of diverse users are more resilient, better utilized and more sustainable in the long term. 

Tools for the energy transition

SEforALL recognizes that while many organizations want to be inclusive, they may not know where to start — or they may just need a reminder. 

The Global Media Monitoring Project found that in 2025, women accounted for just 26 percent of news subjects and sources, appearing largely absent from broadcasting, radio, and print. The report finds that 41 percent of reports in traditional news articles are now women, an increase from 28 percent in 1995, important as articles written by women journalists are more likely to include women subjects than stories by men. This is key as only 2 of every 100 news stories analyzed in 2025 clearly challenged stereotypes, and only 2 in 100 stories cover gender-based violence, despite affecting half the world’s population. The way we communicate, and who is included in that communication, shapes policymaking, investment priorities, and how individuals see themselves.

The underrepresentation of women extends beyond the media. At COP29, for instance, only 8 out of 77 opening speakers were women. An analysis by the Women’s Environment and Development Organization found that women’s participation at COP28 was only 34%, a modest increase of just 3 percentage points from COP14 in 2008. At this rate, achieving gender parity in these global negotiations is not expected until 2043. This persistent underrepresentation reinforces a male-dominated decision-making process that often does not adequately represent women’s lived experiences.

To help bridge these gaps, SEforALL has developed two cornerstone resources designed to make inclusion and mainstreaming an everyday activity.

SEforALL’s Inclusive Communications Guidelines Tool recognizes communications as an essential element to participation. This tool helps organizations ensure their messaging, imagery, and outreach strategies resonate across different regions and demographics. By adopting these guidelines, organizations can avoid unconscious biases, truly represent the individuals they serve and ensure their message reaches the women and youth who are often the most excluded from energy discourse.

In response, SEforALL created the Gender & Youth Mainstreaming Event Guidelines to serve as a cornerstone to planning energy conferences, workshops, or virtual meetings. This tool provides a blueprint for planning and executing events that are inclusive, responsive, and transformative. From accessibility considerations to speaker selection and question crafting, these guidelines draw on global best practices to ensure every energy event is a platform for justice and inclusion. 

This March, we're marking Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day 2026 by highlighting how data and evidence can drive a more just and inclusive energy transition for all. Under SEforALL’s Gender & Youth programme, we #EmPowerHer by closing gender data gaps so that policies, investments and programmes reflect women’s realities and leadership in the energy sector.

Gender data gaps in sustainable development

Sex-disaggregated data is essential to understanding how women and men are differently affected by energy access, affordability, and employment opportunities. It helps track progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 7 on  access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030 and SDG 5 on gender equality and women’s empowerment, and informs programme design, policy interventions, and investments that can close gender gaps in the energy sector.

Yet, significant  gaps remain. According to UN Women (2022), on average only 42% of the data required to monitor gender dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is available. Out of 193 countries, 136 countries fall before the 40% mark, and 93 countries report less than 25% availability.  The 2022 Sustainable Development Goals Report further shows that out of 32 global indicators requiring sex-disaggrgegated data, only 21 were sufficiently available in most countries, and only seven met sex- and age-disaggregation requirements. 

SDG 7 is among six SDGs with no gender-specific indicators. This gap limits how countries account for women’s contributions to and benefits from the energy sector. As a result, energy planning risks overlooking the realities faced by women and girls, from unpaid care burdens linked to energy poverty to low participation in energy careers and entrepreneurship.  

Data as a cornerstone of a just and inclusive energy transition

SEforALL’s Data & Evidence work addresses these critical gaps by strengthening gender-responsive data collection and use in energy policy, planning, and implementation. 

The report Improving energy data to enhance gender equality highlights how investing in sex-disaggregated data not only clarifies women’s energy access needs but also drives more inclusive investments. Accurate data empowers policymakers to design targeted interventions, including expanding clean cooking programmes, financing women-led energy businesses, and fostering equitable employment pathways. The report calls for collaborative efforts among national governments, statistics offices, development partners, and the private sector to standardize methodologies, define gender indicators, and embed these into energy data systems worldwide.

SEforALL’s publication The gender-energy nexus in the AI era: Challenges and opportunities explores how technological innovation can drive gender equality. Artificial Intelligence (AI) could accelerate progress on 134 of 169 SDG targets, yet SDG 5 has the fewest AI enabled-use cases, with only 10 out of more than 600 cases identified. If current trends persist, 341 million women and girls will remain without electricity by 2030, 85% of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. Without closing digital gender gaps and ensuring women have the technical skills to design, use, and govern AI systems, these tools risk reinforcing, rather than reducing, the barriers women face in the energy transition.

Finally, SEforALL connects gender, energy, and fashion in the Threads of transformation: Fashion, energy & women at the intersection of climate action, to demonstrate how one of the world’s most energy-intensive industries has specific gendered impacts. Responsible for 2-8% of global carbon emissions and nearly 20% of global wastewater, the fashion sector consumes roughly one trillion kWh of electricity annually. Women make up about 60% of the global fashion workforce, yet often occupy the lowest-paid, least-secure jobs. Empowering women-led enterprises and ensuring equitable access to clean energy across supply chains can transform fashion from a high-emission industry into a force for accelerating progress on SDG 7 and SDG 5.

Powering a data-driven, gender-responsive energy future

From improving the quality of global gender-energy data to integrating equality considerations into AI and industry, SEforALL’s Gender & Youth programme is turning data into action. Closing gender data gaps is about ensuring that women and girls are empowered as meaningful participants to the sustainable energy transition.

In achieving rights, justice, and action for all women and girls, the path forward is clear: better data makes better decisions. And better decisions mean a more sustainable energy future. 

By Wei Li — Project Officer, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL)

When we talk about energy transitions, we often focus on megawatts, finance and policies. But every transition ultimately affects people, from how families cook to who gets access to jobs in growing industries.

Through our Energy Transition and Investment Plans (ETIPs), Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) collaborates with governments to develop actionable roadmaps toward cleaner and more resilient energy systems. These plans help countries and regions align climate ambition with economic growth and financing strategies. 

Gender is an important consideration in developing these plans.  This is because the current energy system does not affect everyone equally. In many developing regions, women are primarily responsible for household energy tasks such as cooking, making them key energy managers within their homes and communities. Yet 2.1 billion people still lack access to clean cooking, exposing women and children to harmful indoor air pollution and time-consuming fuel collection. At the same time, women remain underrepresented in the energy sector, making up only about 20% of the global energy workforce and just 18% of senior leadership roles. 

Expanding access to modern energy can reduce these daily burdens while improving health, saving time and opening opportunities for education, employment and leadership — enabling women to participate more fully as energy consumers, producers and decision-makers.

This is why gender is integrated across our energy planning activities, from developing ETIPs to capacity-building workshops. I have seen first-hand how gender is treated not just as an afterthought. It is intentionally considered in how opportunities are created, how jobs are supported and how investments are designed, ensuring women are both reflected in the plans and positioned to benefit from the transitions they enable.

Sierra Leone: Linking Energy Planning to National Gender Commitments

In Sierra Leone, gender integration reflects national priorities and commitments. The ETIP dedicates a full chapter to “Gender, Education & Youth,” aligning with the country’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act, which mandates at least  30% representation of women in leadership across public and private sectors.

The plan connects this national commitment to concrete strategies. It proposes low-interest loans, grants and subsidies for women-owned and led sustainable energy enterprises, alongside gender-responsive incentives to support clean energy and transport adoption. It also calls for increased investment in STEM education to make it more accessible for girls, while recognizing women’s roles in agriculture and ensuring gender remains central to national climate policies.

Here, gender is integrated as part of a broader development and climate agenda, linking energy transition efforts with economic participation and leadership opportunities for women.

Powering Opportunity: Expanding Jobs for Women across ETIPs

Beyond policy design, ETIPs also highlight the economic opportunities created by the energy transition, including new jobs in renewable energy, energy efficiency and electricity access. Ensuring that women can access these opportunities is an important part of gender-responsive energy planning.

​​For example, the Sierra Leone ETIP projects nearly 30,000 new energy sector jobs, highlighting roles for women in installing, maintaining and managing 7,156 potential mini-grid sites. The Barbados ETIP estimates 1,500 new renewable energy jobs, urging companies to hire and retain more women. Ghana’s ETIP foresees 400,000 net additional jobs from the energy transition, emphasizing equal opportunities for men and women. In larger economies, the potential is even greater: Nigeria’s ETIP projects 840,000 new jobs, while Kenya’s anticipates 500,000 with women expected to play key roles in emerging clean energy industries.

Realizing these opportunities will require building the right skills for the transition. Across ETIPs, education and training are highlighted as key enablers, from integrating renewable energy topics into school curricula to expanding vocational training. Importantly, many initiatives focus on opening these pathways to women through STEM scholarships, targeted training and support for women-led enterprises.

From Plans to Participation: Capacity Building in Action

Our capacity-building workshops on energy transition planning are where strategies move from paper to practice. From the outset, we encourage participating governments and institutions to nominate women representatives, creating more inclusive spaces for technical energy discussions.

In our recent workshops in Manila (59% women participation), Bangkok (47% women participation), Vienna (43% women participation) and Kenya (52% women participation) — we saw strong female participation and impact.

They contributed to modeling discussions, scenario development and sector analyses, helping refine assumptions and priorities.Through hands-on exercises and technical discussions, they deepened their understanding of modeling and planning processes, strengthened their confidence to engage in national energy decision-making and gained the tools to continue contributing to their countries’ energy plans. 

For me, this is where gender inclusion becomes tangible. It is not about creating leadership overnight, but about ensuring that women are present, heard and equipped to contribute meaningfully to decisions that shape their countries’ energy futures.

In celebration of Women’s History Month and in honour of International Women’s Day 2026, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) continues to champion women’s leadership as a driving force behind a just and inclusive energy transition, aligned with this year’s global theme: Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls.

The #EmPowerHer campaign recognizes that closing workforce, decision-making and funding gaps for women requires collective action. This includes dismantling systemic barriers, investing in women- and girl-led initiatives and creating clear pathways to leadership at all levels. Through the #EmPowerHer campaign, SEforALL champions equal energy access and participation #ForAllWomenAndGirls in the energy sector.

In line with our year-round commitment to empowering women and girls through collective action, we partnered with the World Woman Foundation at the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos. Together, we convened two high-impact sessions at the gender-energy nexus, highlighting that advancing gender equality is critical to driving climate action and achieving sustainable growth.

Women’s leadership as a lever for action

The evidence is clear: empowering women yields powerful returns. Companies with more women on their boards are 60 percent more likely to reduce energy consumption and 39 percent more likely to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Countries with more women in parliament are more likely to have stricter climate policies and ratify environmental treaties. Companies with more women in senior management see a 30 percent higher return on equity.

Yet, women represent only 32 percent of positions in the renewable energy workforce and 22 percent of the traditional energy sector workforce, revealing a persistent gender gap in who shapes and benefits from the energy transition. 

Empowered to Drive Growth: Women’s Leadership in Climate & Energy Action

On 19 January, 2026, the World Woman Davos Agenda session “Empowered to Drive Growth: Women’s Leadership in Climate & Energy Action,” moderated by international journalist Alina Trabattoni, highlighted that women’s full participation in decision-making is essential for sustainable development. Silvana Koch Mehrin, President & Founder of Women Political Leaders, informed that women’s political power remains the least improved dimension on the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Index, stressing that “who decides what’s going on in the room” determines the ambition of climate and energy policies.

Koch-Mehrin called for “deliberate leadership” to break the “concrete ceiling” in strategic portfolios, including energy, and to dismantle non-legal barriers that keep women out of top roles, including their overrepresentation in the care economy. She underscored that systemic change must be matched by individual action, saying, “Even without legislation, everyone can make a difference” and that equity in the energy transition starts at home.

Ashwini Bhide, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister of Maharashtra, illustrated how women’s leadership transforms infrastructure and energy projects on the ground. She described low-carbon infrastructure initiatives in Mumbai implemented by teams of women leaders, noting that women-led projects tend to be more empathetic and socially inclusive. She spoke of the use of public policy to expand women’s economic rights, from access to finance to community councils to reserved procurement quotas that enable women’s groups to participate in clean energy value chains.

Vaishali Nigam Sinha, Co-Founder of ReNew, emphasized that women’s leadership is an economic imperative to reaching 2030 climate and energy goals. By driving a diversity agenda that has brought ReNew’s board to 40 percent women, Sinha showed how governance reforms can translate into value creation and stronger environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance when diversity is tracked and reported to investors and employees. 

“The push for the just energy transition needs to be global. It is not an option or belief, it is a reality that we need a just energy transition.” - Silvana Koch Mehrin

Powering On the Green Industrial Revolution: Closing the Skills Gap for the Energy Transition

On 21 January 2026, the session “Powering On the Green Industrial Revolution: Closing the Skills Gap for the Energy Transition,” moderated by Alina Trabattoni, turned attention to the workforce dimension of sustainable development. With the International Energy Agency projecting over 30 million clean energy jobs by 2030, ensuring that women and young people have the skills, networks, and recognition they need is central to meeting the demand for green talent.

Sarah Steinberg, Head of Global Public Policy Partnerships at LinkedIn, shared insights from LinkedIn’s global trends, noting that demand for green skills is growing twice as fast as supply. She emphasized that green capabilities are no longer limited to traditionally ‘green’ roles but are now vital across functions such as procurement, supply chain, and finance. Yet, women still comprise less than one-third of the global green workforce. Steinberg emphasized that “Workforce strategy needs to be an essential component of climate and energy strategy,” calling for a shift towards skills-based hiring to make the green transition more inclusive. 

Yvonne Ruf, Senior Partner at Roland Berger, emphasized that investments in emerging markets must intentionally build local skills if the green industrial revolution is to be inclusive. “The transition of skills can happen successfully with government commitment and by bringing companies together. There exists more potential than is currently being leveraged,” Ruf noted. She urged governments and businesses to integrate skills development into procurement and investment decisions, plan transparently for which skills are needed, when and where, and support workers to retrain and access new opportunities in the low-carbon economy.

Both speakers highlighted that embracing a skills-based approach to talent development can open doors for underrepresented groups, including women, who traditionally face barriers to entry. This paradigm shift, they emphasized, is fundamental to creating equitable pathways for participation in the clean energy economy.

Turning advocacy into action

• At the 2026 World Economic Forum, the message of SEforALL and the World Woman Foundation was clear: achieving a just energy transition is inseparable from advancing gender equality. Through its advocacy and partnerships, SEforALL continues to build global momentum for women’s full participation in the energy sector, empowering leaders, uplifting communities and driving progress towards a sustainable future for all.
  
  Watch the session recordings:

• Empowered to Drive Growth: Women’s Leadership in Climate & Energy Action

• Powering On the Green Industrial Revolution: Closing the Skills Gap for the Energy Transition

By María Juliana Pulido Otero — STEM Trainee

Electricity shapes people’s daily life, education and rest. I spoke with Elianis, who grew up in Trementino, San Bernardo del Viento, a small coastal town in Colombia, about the challenges of living without reliable electricity.

For Elianis, while she was growing up, electricity was present but unpredictable. “In our community, we learned to react,” she explains, “If the power went out, we adjusted," which could happen two to three times a week. When storms hit, the power could be out for days.

Her family planned meals carefully. Without consistent refrigeration, perishable foods could not be stored for long periods. When the power went out for over 12 hours, they tried to cook everything that could spoil without refrigeration.

When she was in school, if fans stopped working in the heat (between 32 °C and 40° C), classes were moved outdoors. And at home, she used candles or a small lamp to do her homework. 

The impact became more visible during her first semester of university; “I had to take one exam three times because the power went out each time,” she recalls. Her experience studying virtually depended entirely on stable electricity and with the recurrent outages she had to sometimes miss entire lessons.

At night, unreliable electricity affected her comfort. When there were outages, her family was unable to sleep inside the house since the fans did not work and the heat increased. They slept in hammocks in their Ranchos de Palma (palm-thatched hut). 

The energy transition is often framed around who is connected and who is not. However, Elianis’s experience shows that connection alone is not enough. Reliability matters. Energy access is about ensuring that the community's daily life is not paused by uncertainty.

Juliana Pulido is a STEM Trainee with SEforALL's STEM Traineeship Programme. This traineeship is designed to equip emerging professionals with the technical and soft skills necessary to thrive as future energy leaders and drive a sustainable energy future in their communities and region. Juliana's cohort, launched by SEforALL in partnership with the Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization (OLACDE), works closely with government officials and project partners, ensuring alignment with national Energy Compact objectives while supporting the OLADCE team in technical activities and high-level events.

Across Rwanda, most households still rely on firewood and charcoal to cook their daily meals. These fuels harm people’s health, especially women's and children's, as cooking and caregiving often take place simultaneously. It is also time-consuming, as hours of the day will be spent on collecting firewood in the forest, often by women and children — time that women could otherwise devote to income-generating activities and children to studying or playing.

To address this, the Government of Rwanda has launched several initiatives to encourage the shift towards cleaner and safer cooking options.

One such initiative is a National Integrated Clean Cooking Plan (NICCP), developed together with SEforALL, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with funding from OPEC Fund, Rockefeller Foundation and The Global Alliance for People and Planet. It uses interactive tools to show how different decisions in relation to the cooking sector affect households, the environment and the economy over time.

"We have arrived at a milestone in accelerating clean cooking in Rwanda. Moving from traditional cooking fuels to clean cooking — such as electricity, gas, ethanol and others — improves the health of thousands of people each year and makes the cooking process more efficient. It will also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation. The Ministry of Infrastructure welcomes the process of developing an innovative Integrated Clean Cooking Plan and reaffirms its commitment to evidence-based planning. We thank SEforALL, Universidad Pontificia Comillas and MIT for their collaboration. This initiative will guide coordinated efforts to achieve universal access to clean cooking across Rwanda."

Integration is the key

Rwanda has made strong progress on electricity access, but most households still rely on polluting cooking fuels. Expanding electric cooking can improve health and reduce emissions, but it also increases demand on the power system. Planning electricity access and clean cooking together ensures that investments reinforce each other, delivering cleaner cooking while building a power system that can support it. 

The NICCP looks at how households adopt different clean cooking options, such as electricity and bioethanol, based on access, affordability, pricing policies and local conditions.

What are the key findings from the NICCP?

• Building infrastructure is not enough.
  Even if electricity and other clean cooking fuels are available, many consumers may still struggle to afford clean cooking equipment and fuels (especially in rural areas).
• Subsidies help more families switch.
  When subsidies cover clean appliances and/or fuels, adoption increases, and the long-term investment needed from government and partners goes down due to economies of scale. The challenge is targeting these subsidies so they support households who need them most without placing unnecessary strain on public budgets — an approach informed by tools like the NICCP. 
• The cost of cooking for households should be monitored. 
  The tools assess how prices (including taxes and subsidies), household behaviour and economic growth interact, showing that a transition to clean cooking can be both affordable and deliver strong social benefits.
• Strong private-sector support needed.
  To meet national targets, the production/import and distribution of clean cooking products must scale up dramatically. This growth may be promoted by sustained policies that support sales expectations and, therefore, private investments.
• Financing needs are large but manageable.
  Rwanda’s clean-cooking transition will require several hundred million dollars in sustained investment over the next decade, rising toward around USD 1 billion as ambition increases. Most funding would come from concessional loans, grants, private investment and cross-subsidies, with additional potential from carbon markets, since clean cooking reduces CO₂ emissions.

This is what Rwanda needs to succeed

• Raise public awareness about the benefits of clean cooking.
• Strengthen coordination among national institutions and local actors.
• Expand training and capacity building for the production, sale, and maintenance of clean cooking technologies.
• Support local businesses to ensure sustainable supply chains and reduce reliance on imports.
• Design, disseminate and maintain stable integrated plans to attract public and private investments.

A major shift is possible 

Rwanda has a strong foundation for a major shift in how its people cook. With integrated planning tools, financial support and sustained collaboration across sectors, the country can accelerate the adoption of clean, modern and affordable cooking solutions. Doing so will improve health, protect forests, support gender equality and contribute to climate goals, all while making daily life easier for millions of households.

Download the report.

By Rose Rwegasir with support from Hadija Udodo - both are SEforALL STEM Trainees working on the Clean Cooking in Schools project in Tanzania

For school cooks, clean cooking is not just about technology — it is about health, time and dignity. At Kibasila Primary School in Temeke District, Tanzania, the introduction of electric pressure cookers has transformed daily work in the school kitchen.

As part of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and World Food Programme’s (WFP) joint initiative, Accelerating Clean Cooking Transition in Schools in Tanzania, implemented in partnership with the Government of Tanzania, with support from UKAid - Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme, Kibasila Primary School is demonstrating how modern cooking solutions in public institutions can improve working conditions while supporting education outcomes.

We spoke with Ibrahim Mohamed, a cook at Kibasila Primary School, about how clean cooking has changed his daily life.

Who is Ibrahim Mohamed?

My name is Ibrahim Mohamed. I work as a cook at Kibasila Primary School. Every day, my responsibility is to prepare meals for students so that they can eat on time and return to class ready to learn.

What was cooking like before the refurbished kitchen?

Before, we cooked using firewood. The work was very tiring. We cooked outside, and we were exposed to smoke, heat and rain. Cooking took a long time, and sometimes food was served very late in the day.

The smoke affected our chests, and we often finished work very late, sometimes at 4:00pm, 5:00 or even 6:00pm in the evening.

How did these conditions affect your health and daily work?

Cooking with firewood caused many health challenges. Smoke affected our breathing, and working outside in bad weather made the work even harder. On some days, we were extremely exhausted.

Even when it rained, we still had to cook until the food was ready. There was no option to stop.

What changed after electric pressure cookers were introduced?

The change has been very big. Now we cook using electric pressure cookers, which are modern and efficient. Meals are prepared much faster, and students eat on time.

From around midday, food is already cooked, students have eaten and they return to class as scheduled. We now work indoors in a comfortable environment, regardless of the weather.

How has this affected your health and quality of life?

My health has improved significantly. Since we started using electric cooking, I have not experienced chest problems or frequent illness. We also finish work on time and have time to rest and return home earlier.

Why do you think clean cooking matters beyond your school?

Clean cooking helps not only schools, but also households. These technologies reduce health risks, save time and make cooking less burdensome.

I hope this initiative continues and expands, so that more schools and families can benefit from safer and more efficient cooking.

From daily work to system change

Ibrahim’s experience highlights how clean cooking solutions can improve occupational health, free up valuable time and restore dignity to essential work — outcomes that are central to inclusive energy transitions.

Minerals are a hot topic these days - and for good reason. The energy transition requires an enormous production of Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries, wind-turbine magnets, solar panels, grid infrastructure and much more. And for this, you need a range of different minerals. No surprise then that as the energy transition has accelerated, so has demand for minerals. In fact, the market size for key energy-transition minerals doubled from 115 billion in 2017, to 230 billion USD in 2022.

A region that should have been in the spotlight of the mineral discussion, is South East Asia. Did you know that ASEAN's mineral base includes nearly half of global nickel and a fifth of rare earths - core inputs for EV batteries, wind turbines and solar infrastructure? That Viet Nam hosts one of the biggest rare earth element deposits globally, while bauxite, copper, tin and cobalt are widely distributed across the region? Or that Indonesia alone is the world’s leading nickel producer and the Philippines the second-largest?

Probably not. And the reason is under investment in the region.

Unleash the market

The market sits on the fence, mainly because of two reasons:

1. Investors are seeking markets where governments are signalling a strategy to capture value beyond exports, such as smelting, refining and battery production - so called downstream industries.
2. ASEAN’s early-stage investment is relatively small compared to the rest of the world, constrained by regulatory complexity, fragmented data and gaps in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) implementation.

It's a double loss: The world could face bottlenecks in copper, nickel and rare earths, delaying the energy and climate transition; ASEAN Member States could also lose out on jobs, industrial capability and long-term value creation.

It's not all dark, though.

Between 2020 and 2024, ASEAN Member States attracted over USD 10 billion in foreign direct investment into mining. Yet, in 2024, Indonesia captured more than half of all inflows and Malaysia nearly half again. The reason? They have well-established downstream industries.