Every 5 June, the world comes together for World Environment Day. This year, the UN’s #NowForClimate campaign asks a vital question: the planet is sending us signals, so how will we respond?

Our answer is clean energy. Energy production and use drive 75% of global emissions, making it our single biggest opportunity to turn things around. The shift is already happening: clean energy is growing faster than ever, and for the first time in a century, the world produces more electricity from renewables than from coal.

On the shores of Lake Victoria, Kenya’s third-largest city, Kisumu, is facing a slow-moving climate crisis and emerging as a testing ground for urban heat resilience in sub-Saharan Africa.

By dawn, Kisumu is already moving. Fishermen haul tilapia ashore at Dunga Beach. Boda-boda motorbike taxis dart between the city's roundabouts, ferrying produce and passengers through thickening traffic. Traders fan out across the markets of Kibuye. For the more than 1.1 million people who call this lakeside county home, life runs on momentum. But the heat is slowing everything down.

Over the past two decades, Kisumu has recorded a steady climb in temperatures, with monthly averages now running more than 2°C above the baseline of the late 1970s. Fish spoils before it reaches the market. Hospital admissions spike during hot spells. Inside homes built with the iron-sheet roofing that covers 93.5% of Kisumu's housing stock, the temperature can still be climbing hours after sundown. At night, when relief should come, the walls radiate the day's accumulated heat back into cramped living rooms.

For a city where 64% of urban residents live in informal settlements, the consequences of extreme heat are not abstract. They are measured in lost income, sick children and sleepless nights. Projected climate trends offer little comfort. Rainfall is expected to increase by 42.1–51.5 mm annually, and combined with higher temperatures, added humidity will reduce the body's natural ability to cool itself, worsening heat stress even on days that fall short of the 37°C threshold.
 

Figure 1: Kisumu annual mean temperature trend from 1979 to 2024, showing a warming of approximately 1.8°C over the period based on ERA5 reanalysis data. Meteoblue. Accessed May 2026.

A City on the Frontline

Kisumu sits at the western edge of Kenya, on the shores of Lake Victoria, and its geography has long made it a commercial crossroads. Its economy depends heavily on fishing and small-scale agriculture, sectors that together account for roughly 15.6% of Gross County Product. The county produces around 24,000 metric tons of fish annually, and nearly half of household incomes are tied to what farmers and fisherfolk can grow and catch.

Those livelihoods are increasingly precarious. Kenya loses an estimated 30-40% of perishable agricultural and fish products each year due to inadequate cold storage and broken cold-chain infrastructure, a figure that hits Kisumu disproportionately hard. When temperatures surge, the losses compound fast.

The public health picture is just as sobering. Analysis of hospital data from 2011–2020 reveals clear correlations between elevated temperatures and rising outpatient visits and admissions across respiratory, cardiovascular and infectious disease categories. Researchers have identified a Kisumu-specific heatwave threshold: when daily maximum temperatures exceed 37°C for more than three consecutive days, hospital systems feel the strain. Urban heat island effects, which cause dense informal settlements to retain warmth well into the night, make the burden heavier still.

Housing and Inequality

Kenya's 2019 census found that 80% of households nationwide live under iron-sheet roofing. In Kisumu, that figure rises to 93.5%. These thin metal sheets are cheap and widely available, which is why they dominate the housing stock in informal settlements like Nyalenda, Manyatta and Obunga. But they are thermally brutal: they absorb solar energy through the day and radiate it back through the night, turning homes into slow cookers.

Nyalenda A and B neighbourhoods,  home to an estimated 5% of Kisumu County's population, two wards on the city's eastern edge, pack over 8,500 residential buildings into just 2.12 km², a density of more than 4,000 buildings per km². With an average height of just 5.18 metres – one to two storeys – the iron-sheet roof sits only metres above where families sleep, giving the heat it absorbs almost no distance to dissipate before it enters the home. Across the two wards, that amounts to nearly 530,000 square metres of heat-absorbing roof surface. 

Figure 2: Building stock in Nyalenda A and B, Kisumu’s most densely settled informal wards. Source: SEforALL Open Building Insights (OBI), 2025. 
 

Just 1.5 kilometres to the northwest, across Ring Road, the picture looks entirely different. Milimani, Kisumu's established formal neighbourhood, contains roughly a quarter of the residential buildings: 2,182 homes across 2.16 km², a density of just over 1,000 buildings per km². Buildings are taller on average, at 6.19 metres, with larger individual footprints and significantly more space between structures. Green parks, wider roads and tree-lined streets are visible throughout. In Milimani, there is one non-residential building for every 3.4 homes, more than twice the service coverage of Nyalenda. Two neighbourhoods, nearly the same size, less than two kilometres apart: one with four times the building density, lower roofs and a fraction of the green space. That gap, in density, in roof height, in green space, is where the heat inequality lives.

Figure 3: Building stock in Milimani, Kisumu’s formal residential neighbourhood. Source: SEforALL Open Building Insights (OBI), 2025. 

The Plan 

Addressing extreme heat in Kisumu is not only about forecasting heatwaves, it is also about reshaping the city’s fabric through shade, trees, cool roofs and better-designed public buildings that reduce indoor temperatures without driving up energy demand. A combination of active, passive and community solutions can produce significant benefits for Kisumu residents. 

SEforALL is supporting Kisumu in developing its Heat Action Plan. The plan forms part of a broader national effort to address extreme heat, integrate cooling needs into County Energy Plans, and promote sustainable cooling solutions. It is intended to bridge national frameworks and local realities, ensuring that responses are tailored to county-specific needs while addressing immediate heat risks and strengthening longer-term energy and climate strategies, including the Kenya National Cooling Action Plan. 

Felix Odhiambo Akello, is Kisumu County's Senior Energy Planner and Chief Heat Officer — one of the first officials on the continent dedicated specifically to extreme heat response. Akello has watched the weather become harder to read year by year; temperatures that used to build gradually now swing sharply, and rains that farmers once counted on arrive unpredictably or not at all. The weather is changing and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to plan for extreme weather. 

Felix Odhiambo Akello. Kisumu’s Chief Heat Officer. 

Akello is the driving force behind Kisumu's Heat Action Plan 2025–2029. Rather than relying solely on emergency response, the plan targets the structural conditions that make Kisumu residents so exposed in the first place. Key interventions include:

• Cooling centres: Cooling centres in busy areas like Kisumu Central’s markets, hospital grounds and boda-boda (motorcycle) stages could give traders, patients and riders a place to escape dangerous heat during days above 37°C, especially in crowded neighbourhoods.
• Heat early warning systems: A heat alert issued across Kisumu when temperatures exceed 37°C for three consecutive days could help residents in Nyalenda, Manyatta and lakeside communities prepare early, adjusting work hours, staying hydrated and seeking cooler spaces.
• Passive cooling in buildings: In settlements like Obunga, Manyatta and Bandani, where homes are built with iron-sheet roofs, simple measures like reflective roofing and better airflow could make indoor spaces safer and more tolerable during hot nights.
• Cold storage for food systems: Cold storage at Dunga and Ogal Beach landing sites and city markets like Kibuye could keep fish and fresh produce from spoiling in the heat, protecting incomes for fisherfolk and traders who depend on daily sales.
• Urban greening and shading: Planting trees and creating shaded walkways along busy roads in Kisumu East and Central, where green space is extremely limited, could make it safer for people to walk, trade and commute under rising temperatures.

The plan also feeds into a broader national architecture. Kenya signed the Global Cooling Pledge, and its National Cooling Action Plan places sub-national governments at the centre of delivery. 

The Funding Gap: Scaling What Works

For Akello, the stakes extend well beyond emergency management. He also oversees Kisumu County's 100% Renewable Energy Transition by 2050. The heat plan sits on top of that framework, pushing in the same direction: lower emissions, lower energy demand and lower exposure to climate risk. He is direct about what still stands in the way. 

"Solutions must be designed so they are accessible to everyone," he says. "That requires inclusive policies and inclusive funding, not just pilot projects that reach a few neighbourhoods."

To ensure inclusive, well-organised and coordinated heat action planning, data collection is key. Yet support for acquiring monitoring equipment and appliances remains critically low, and awareness and capacity building are urgent needs as the city grapples with a rapidly growing population. Delivering on both fronts requires community health workers who are well-trained and equipped – the frontline actors who make sustainable, up-to-date heat data collection possible, and whose observations feed directly into decision-making.

Equally important is exposure and peer-to-peer learning. Active involvement at the local, national, regional and global level is essential to accelerate the sharing of best practices across geographies facing similar challenges. One of the starkest gaps, however, is in heat-related disaster preparedness: the county is actively seeking funding to establish a model, fully equipped cooling centre, a facility that would provide tangible, life-saving infrastructure when the next heatwave strikes.

The financing gap is real. SEforALL is working with Akello and counterparts in seven Kenyan counties to develop financing templates that could channel investment into the heat-resilience measures identified in the plan. 

Authors:

• Felix Odhiambo Akello, Chief Heat Officer of Kisumu 

• Rosa Garcia, Cooling Officer at SEforALL

A unique initiative implemented by Sustainable Energy for All is working with small-scale agro-processors in Zambia to boost their businesses. 

Every day, many entrepreneurs across rural Zambia face the same challenges. Without access to reliable electricity, they crank up diesel generators to power their business operations. Using these generators increases operating costs and reduces profit margins while negatively impacting the surrounding environment. Fortunately, a new approach powered by solar mini-grids and suitable financing for productive-use equipment is improving businesses for entrepreneurs in rural Zambia.

Take the example of Lincoln Mumba, an entrepreneur from Petauke District in Eastern Province. In 2022, Lincoln bought a diesel-powered hammer mill and dehuller to start his milling business. He would mill maize for farmers for free and then sell the bran by-product to companies in Lusaka that make animal feed. 

Last year, when his community was connected to electricity from a solar-powered mini-grid, he replaced his diesel-powered machines with new electric-powered ones with the support of Customised Energy Solutions (CES). With the new equipment, he doubled his production levels, and his earnings increased significantly. “From the extra income I am making, I am able to pay school fees and finance my farming activities,” Lincoln shared. 

Lincoln recently acquired a solar-powered water pump from CES that increased his farm production. Today, he generates income from two sources with a combination of clean energy solutions. 

Another beneficiary is Jelina Mwaula from Southern Province. She acquired a micro mill and a cold storage deep freezer for her growing agro-processing business. The micro-mill serves local customers who don’t have to travel long distances to mill their maize, while the cold storage unit preserves fish caught in the Kafue Gorge in Southern Province. With the storage, she is able to preserve and sell the fish locally, which increases both her revenues and minimizes losses associated with transportation costs. She acquired her equipment through a lease-to-own model and trained on basic operation and maintenance of the machines.

Through the CES Customized Applications for Rural Economies & Sustainability (CARES) program, the company is implementing a lease-to-own powered Productive Use of Energy (PUE) program to transform rural economies. They are supporting rural entrepreneurs to acquire PUE equipment with the option to pay for it over a 12-24 month period, with exceptions for large-scale irrigation, for which the repayment period is 30 months.

To benefit more entrepreneurs like Lincoln and Jelina, starting in April, CES began conducting PUE roadshows, showcasing over 60 livelihood technologies across 51 operational mini-grid sites in Eastern, Central, and Southern Provinces. The roadshows provide entrepreneurs with a chance to see and experience productive energy-use solutions firsthand.

CES’s work focuses on mini-grid scale up, energy access, and productive use, contributing to broader efforts to expand access and drive economic productivity in Zambia. This aligns with the Zambia Energy Demand Stimulation Incentive (ZEDSI) initiative led by SEforALL, alongside partners including the Global Energy Alliance, the African School of Regulation, and Columbia World Projects, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation. 

This initiative is providing performance-based grants to mini-grid developers with the aim of pushing electricity beyond the household and into productive use like agriculture, milling, and commercial activities to drive sustained electricity consumption that improves their operating margins.

"Sustainable mini grids are built on demand, and demand is built on livelihoods. PUE is the catalyst that links clean energy to inclusive development. By enabling rural enterprises from agro-processing to cooling, PUE turns energy investments into engines of local economic growth and financial sustainability. Every productive appliance deployed multiplies community prosperity," said Nitin Akhade, the CES director of the Energy and Productive Economy Platform. 

Through the ZEDSI initiative, SEforALL is addressing the most persistent challenge in mini-grid projects by solving the energy demand gap and enabling mini-grids to be profitable while delivering affordable electricity for businesses. The overall goal is to increase future investments in off-grid energy by linking generation and consumption, which is key to minigrids’ sustainability.

ZEDSI has made considerable progress catalyzing PUE adoption since the launch of the initiative in 2024. It has onboarded three private off-grid developers to install solar mini-grids across 43 rural communities and has been actively encouraging people and businesses to adopt PUE equipment and use electricity productively. Across these mini-grid sites, farmers are using milling and grinding machines to process their harvests, small businesses are running cold storage units, and households are charging phones and appliances.

ZEDSI is a catalytic financing facility that provides developers with results-based grants for connecting public institutions and productive uses of energy to new mini-grids. As of June 2025, the Facility awarded $1.1M worth of contracts to three developers representing 43 minigrid sites and an estimated 11,000 connections by 2027,” said Mukabanji Mutanuka, SEforALL’s Zambia Country Coordinator.

Early results show that customers supported under ZEDSI are using nearly eight times more electricity than those who are not. These mini-grid projects are also earning almost seven times more on average, thus increasing economic viability for the developers. 

With these numbers expected to increase over time as more people are onboarded, ZEDSI is set for significant growth. As more entrepreneurs invest in PUEs, ZEDSI is demonstrating that businesses, and not just connections, are the best pathway to sustainable rural energy.

Sustainable Energy for All is a partner in the Agri-Energy Coalition, a global alliance of partners working on energy, water, agriculture, nutrition, climate and finance. It was created to unlock the potential of agri-food systems with clean energy. 

AI is getting more efficient. AI's energy demand is on track to triple by 2030. Both are true and this contradiction now sits at the centre of the global energy debate.

Three numbers describe what that contradiction adds up to.

945. It is projected that data centres will consume around 945 terawatt-hours of electricity globally by 2030. That is roughly double the 415 TWh used in 2024 and close to Japan's annual total. AI-focused demand alone is set to triple.

602 billion USD. That is the projected combined capital expenditure of the top five hyperscale technology companies on data centre and AI infrastructure in 2026. The 2025 figure was USD 400 billion, already larger than global investment in oil and gas production.

666 million. That is the number of people still living without access to electricity. Most are in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that is home to 18% of the world's population but accounts for less than 1% of global data centre capacity.

Together, those three numbers describe the central energy story of our time. AI is reshaping the global power system at extraordinary speed. Whether that reshaping closes the access gap or widens it is the policy question of the years ahead.

Three trends explain why.

Efficiency cannot keep up with usage. Global data centre electricity demand grew 17% in 2025, while total electricity demand grew 3%. Energy use per AI task has fallen close to tenfold each year in recent years, a pace the energy sector has not previously seen. Even at that pace, efficiency cannot outrun demand. But the demand keeps coming: more people are using AI and newer applications such as agents, video generation and reasoning consume far more energy per query than text.

Concentration matters more than averages. Data centres now account for more than 20% of Ireland's electricity and are on track to reach 30% by 2032, against an EU average of 2 to 3%. Cooling adds a second concentration. S&P Global projects that 45% of more than 9,000 facilities worldwide will face high water-stress exposure by the 2050s, with the sharpest risks in parts of the Middle East, Spain, Chile, Peru and Mexico. Communities around facilities in Querétaro and Santiago have already pushed back against operations drawing from aquifers under multi-year drought.

Clean energy is a deliberate choice. Iceland's data centres run entirely on geothermal and hydropower and Norway's grid is over 95% hydropower. Around 40% of all corporate renewable power purchase agreements signed in 2025 were tied to technology companies and the conditional pipeline of small modular reactor offtake agreements grew from 25 to 45 gigawatts in a single year. Without that deliberate choice, however, the picture looks very different.

This is where the access conversation arrives. Africa hosts some of the world's most underused renewable resources: geothermal in the East African Rift, hydropower along the Congo and Nile basins, world-class solar across the Sahel and abundant wind on multiple coasts. It has almost none of the AI investment now redirecting energy markets elsewhere. The mismatch is itself the opportunity. African Energy Week 2026 will host the first dedicated AI and Data Centre Track this October in Cape Town, positioning data centre demand as an anchor for gigawatt-scale clean energy investment.

The technology is proven and the capital is moving. What remains is the policy work: the disclosure rules, planning frameworks and financing structures that determine whether AI's electricity demand props up legacy fossil systems or builds new clean capacity that also reaches the unconnected.

The three numbers will not stand still. The question is which way they move and for whom.

SEforALL is proud to deepen its partnership with the Government of India through support for the Energy Agenda coordinated by the Ministry of Power. As India assumes the 2026 BRICS Chairship, under the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability,” India’s leadership comes at a pivotal moment, as global energy systems navigate unprecedented complexity and rapid transformation.

The expanded BRICS+ bloc now represents a global coalition of 11 member countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Together, they account for around 45% of global primary energy consumption, a population of 3.3 billion and over 37% of global GDP (PPP), underscoring their growing influence on global energy and economic pathways. 

Beyond its formal membership, BRICS+ engages a wider ecosystem of partner and dialogue countries, including Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan. Their participation further broadens the coalition’s reach, strengthens South–South cooperation, accelerates technology exchange and deepens collaboration across energy, trade and sustainable development.

The 2026 BRICS Energy Track follows a structured and sequenced pathway to ensure coherence, continuity and collective ownership across its three core pillars: Energy Security & Sustainability, Energy Access & Equity and Technology & Innovation. The roadmap began with the First Senior Energy Officials Meeting (23–24 March), with follow-up meetings planned, which will culminate in the Ministers’ Summit later this year, creating a sustained arc of engagement, consensus-building and joint action.

SEforALL’s collaboration with India spans nearly five years through support of its Energy Compact submitted in 2022 and momentum-building for the global campaign to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency improvements under its 2023 G20 Presidency.

Our current support spans energy efficiency, clean cooking, biofuels and critical minerals and supply chains – priorities that strengthen the Energy Security pillar of BRICS by diversifying energy systems, enhancing affordability and accelerating the deployment of clean technologies. Through technical exchanges, issue papers and facilitated dialogues across the BRICS+ landscape, SEforALL is helping translate India’s leadership into tangible, scalable global outcomes.

Looking ahead, today’s energy challenges demand stronger global and multilateral collaboration. No country or bloc can secure energy stability alone. India’s BRICS Presidency offers a pivotal opportunity to align priorities, deepen partnerships and drive collective solutions that strengthen energy security. SEforALL stands ready to help turn this shared ambition into tangible progress.

In rural Zambia, access to affordable and sustainable electricity opens the door to economic prosperity. Communities either use unpredictable on-grid electricity or use expensive diesel generators for power. This is the reality, with more than 50 percent of Zambians being either underserved or living beyond the grid. It is in this context that two years ago, in 2024, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet Inc. ('Global Energy Alliance'), with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, embarked on an ambitious goal of bringing energy access to millions of people in rural Zambia. 

The Powering 1000 Communities Initiative aims to expand electrification through solar mini-grids across rural Zambia. In line with this ambition, SEforALL undertook a comprehensive market assessment to better understand the scale of the problem and pathways to reach the ambitious goal. 

Over the years, the government of Zambia has made significant progress in expanding energy access, yet the rapid population growth, as with many other countries on the continent, has highlighted the need to accelerate energy sector development. Hydroelectric still plays a vital role in meeting over 80% of the country’s energy needs. However, recurring droughts underscore the importance of diversifying the country’s energy sources to ensure reliable energy access for all.

Data from the Ministry of Energy indicates that as of 2024, the national peak demand for electricity was 2,400 megawatts, while the available power generated was only 1,040 megawatts. This resulted in a power deficit of 1,360 megawatts. For the ordinary Zambian, it means living in constant blackouts, while for businesses, it means using diesel generators. While the national grid reaches over 80% of homes in major towns, in rural regions, that number reduces significantly to just 34%. With 60% of the country’s population living in rural areas, the lack of electricity disproportionately affects them, stifling socio-economic development.

It is in this context that SEforALL, working with the Rural Electrification Authority (REA), with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, and together with The Global Energy Alliance, the African School of Regulations, and Columbia World Projects, has sought to find solutions to these challenges. To achieve this, it was crucial to not only focus on electricity connections but also to have a holistic approach to electricity access that would create a demand and supply system for electricity.

“Our goal is to move beyond simply connecting communities to electricity. We are focused on building thriving local economies where energy is used productively to drive demand, strengthen businesses and make off-grid solutions financially sustainable for the long term.” — Anita Otubu, Senior Director, Universal Energy.  

The approach was twofold: addressing the critical challenge of low demand for energy through the Zambia Energy Demand Stimulation Incentive (ZEDSI) and  designing an integrated framework for rural electrification that will help shift investment toward sustainable, long-term financing for off-grid solutions, rather than one-off infrastructure grants. 

The idea behind ZEDSI is that incentivizing private off-grid developers to boost energy use, especially through productive uses of energy (PUEs), increases consumption and makes existing mini-grids more financially viable. The ultimate result is an increase in future investments in off-grid energy – reducing energy poverty. ZEDSI has made considerable progress. It has onboarded three private off-grid developers to install solar mini-grids across 43 rural communities and has been actively encouraging people to adopt PUE equipment and use electricity productively. Across seven active sites, farmers are using milling and grinding machines to process their harvests, small businesses are running cold storage units and households are charging phones and appliances. 

Early results show that customers supported under ZEDSI are using nearly eight times more electricity than those who are not. These mini-grid projects are also earning almost seven times more on average, thus increasing economic viability for the developers. With these numbers expected to increase over time as more people are onboarded, ZEDSI is set for significant growth.

One of the significant conversations was on the proposed Universal Access Cluster (UAC) model. is an integrated framework for rural electrification that considers the least cost combination of all electrification modes, including grid extension, mini grids, mesh grids, and SHS. This framework provides a natural shift away from partial capex subsidization and cost reflective tariffs toward a cross-subsidization mechanism, offering a more sustainable, long term, pathway to universal electrification within a country. REA is now preparing to pilot the first set of clusters in collaboration with the Global Energy Alliance and SEforALL. The pilot will focus on creating an investment case that will attract more investors to the mini-grid market.

In addition, the initiative has established a geospatial working group that brings together key government agencies to plan electrification together. The initiative is also building the foundations for sustainable rural electrification through supporting the strengthening of REA’s national electrification master plan with better data and mapping tools. 

With support from The Rockefeller Foundation, Global Energy Alliance, and Sustainable Energy for All, rural businesses powered by mini-grids are growing across Zambia. This work helps stimulate demand, strengthen local enterprises and fuel lasting social and economic progress.

Image credits: The Rockefeller Foundation.

By Luc Severi, Head of Energy Access at SEforALL.

As we observe World Health Day 2026, it is good to be reminded of a few key numbers that have guided my work over the last decade. Nearly a billion people rely on health facilities where electricity is either unavailable or unreliable, significantly impacting their ability to deliver quality health services. The global pandemic injected much-needed momentum to the sector, but we are now firmly in a post-pandemic world, where the funding landscape for international development is changing rapidly. We cannot lose sight of the critical importance of reliable energy to achieve universal health coverage, especially as long as mothers still give birth in the dark and vaccines go to waste due to interrupted cold chains. 

At Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), health facility electrification remains a core priority, particularly through our Powering Healthcare programme. Over the years, we have worked closely with partners across the health and energy sectors, consistently making the case that bridging the energy gap in healthcare requires stronger collaboration, sustained investment, and greater urgency.
 

Our commitment extends beyond advocacy into direct action.Since 2020, SEforALL has deployed power solutions in 61 facilities across four countries. In Sierra Leone, for example, a long-standing partnership with FCDO and the Ministry of Health has equipped 17 hospitals and 25 clinics with solar PV and storage solutions. . By the time you read this, an 18th hospital will likely have been connected as well. The impact has been both immediate and measurable. Across the first six hospitals, we observed a 158% increase in energy consumption within a single year. Despite this significant increase in energy consumption, diesel generator reliance dropped by 38%. These figures translate into clear outcomes for the sector: lower electricity costs, enhanced reliability, reduced emissions and improved health services.

With the support of Transforming Energy Access, we have also piloted innovations in seven countries through the Powering Healthcare Innovation Fund. These innovations all have the potential to significantly change how energy is delivered to health facilities, manage long-term operations and maintenance  and manage health data across the health sector.

Finally, with  partners including UNICEF, GEAPP, and FCDO, we have led the charge in ensuring that market intelligence is transparent and reliable, by developing country-level market assessments and roadmaps. These assessments allow governments and development partners to implement projects with better data by avoiding duplication of efforts and improving intersectoral coordination.

Across the sector, many other organizations have been working to power up clinics, deploy energy-efficient medical appliances, and phase out reliance on diesel generators. While emerging financing models such as energy-as-a-service, income-generating activities and distributed renewable energy certificates (D-RECs) hold promise they have not yet reached scale. 

The energy access gap in the health sector remains substantial, leaving an estimated 100,000 health facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa alone without adequate power. Alongside the WHO, the World Bank and IRENA, we estimated the investment required  to deliver reliable power to every health facility. The answer: $4.9 billion, which equates to roughly $5 for every person impacted.

Closing this gap will require continued innovation and smart partnerships across the energy, health, and climate sectors. It also requires strong collaboration between public and private entities.  Above all, we need a firm  commitment to recognize and finance  energy as a foundational component of resilient health systems. Because it will cost us much more than $5 per person if clinics remain in the dark.

The disruption around the Strait of Hormuz — a corridor carrying roughly 20 million barrels of oil a day — has been called the greatest threat to global energy security in history. The crisis, according to global experts, is worse than the 1970s oil shocks and the 2022 Ukraine gas disruption combined and the response so far reflects the scale of the problem. Oil prices surged over 60% in March, prompting the IEA to authorize its largest-ever release of emergency reserves at 400 million barrels. But as Dr. Faith Birol himself acknowledged, reserves buy time. They are not a cure.

Previous oil shocks left countries with few options. Today, clean energy is viable, affordable and already operating at scale. Ember's research shows that scaling solar, wind, electric vehicles and heat pumps could allow fossil fuel importers to cut their import bills by 70%. Solar panel prices have halved since 2022 and battery costs have fallen by 36%. Global EV sales have doubled and the global EV fleet already avoids oil consumption equivalent to 70% of Iran's exports. Moreover, solar growth in 2025 alone could displace gas-fired electricity equal to all LNG exported through the Strait of Hormuz that year. It is also worth mentioning that experts expect this crisis to accelerate renewables, calling them a "homegrown domestic energy source" no conflict can block.

The climate case reinforces the urgency. The WMO's latest State of Climate report confirms the last eleven years were the hottest on record. Earth's energy imbalance is also at its highest level since records began. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres put it plainly: in this age of geopolitical conflicts, the addiction to fossil fuels is destabilizing the climate, the global economy and global security alike. Renewables, he said, deliver climate, energy and national security all at once.

That momentum, however, has yet to reach the people who need it most. Three-quarters of the world's population live in countries that import fossil fuels, spending USD 1.7 trillion in 2024 alone. Meanwhile, 666 million people still lack access to electricity and 2.1 billion cook with polluting fuels. Every price shock hits these communities hardest. Clean energy is not only the solution to volatility; it is also the most practical path to energy access that does not recreate the same exposure to price shocks and supply disruptions.

This is where Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL)'s work matters most. Our Universal Energy Facility has grown from USD 8.5 million at launch to USD 67.3 million, deploying mini-grids and standalone solar across Sub-Saharan Africa. Together with the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, we are advancing Mission 300 to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030. Since July 2023, these efforts have already reached 44 million people. Meanwhile at COP30, SEforALL took on the coordination of three Plans to Accelerate Solutions through 2030 on electricity access, clean cooking and energy efficiency.

As our CEO Damilola Ogunbiyi recently wrote in TIME, climate ambition and energy access must move forward together. And the clean energy transition is how we do both at once. Clean energy solutions reduce exposure to chokepoints, keep spending within domestic economies and reach communities that grid extension alone never will. The technology is proven. The economics are favourable. And the geopolitical case is now writing itself in real time. The opportunity is here and it must be seized for the communities and countries that stand to gain the most.

Photo credit: Michael Gaylard, Flickr.

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.