World Bank to Leverage $16 Billion for Low-Carbon Energy Access Programs for Millions

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The World Bank made an announcement concurrent with the Rio+20 meeting that it would boost efforts to expand energy access, while increasing support for renewable energy and energy efficiency in developing countries. This was in response to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's "Sustainable Energy for All" initiative.

Among the pledges the bank made was the provision of technical assistance, policy guidance and financing to help up to five selected countries establish energy access plans. The provision of affordable lighting to 70 million low-income households by 2020 through the expansion of access programs such as "Lighting Africa," which develops off grid lighting markets, was also pledged. Support will be given to clean cookstoves and household fuels programs in Africa, South and East Asia and Central America.

The bank will provide risk mitigation for clean energy investments and support the development of geothermal power in developing countries.

Support will be given to cities in improving energy efficiency, and countries will be helped in undertaking the mapping of renewable energy resources.

Small island developing states will be supported in clean energy investments, and the Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership to capture and productively use previously flared gas will be expanded.

The World Bank provides about $8 billion a year in financing for energy projects and programs, which leverages a comparable amount from donors, governments and the private sector. Through the initiatives above, the Bank Group seeks to double leveraging of its energy lending, emphasizing low-carbon energy, to $16 billion a year.

"Providing access to electricity to the world's 1.3 billion people who are without it, and clean household fuels to the 2.7 billion without them, is a priority for the World Bank Group," said Mahmoud Mohieldin, the bank's managing director.

The Climate Investment Funds, which are managed by the Bank Group and regional multilateral development banks, and to which donors have pledged $7 billion, also will be invested in renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects in ways that leverage private investment.

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