With 70 % of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa living without access to clean and safe energy for their basic needs such as cooking, lighting and heating, energy poverty ranks among the most urgent issues facing Africa.

More than 70 civil society organisations have signed up for the ‘Civil Society Call: Energy for All 2030’, aiming to achieve the goal of universal access to modern energy services by 2030 through the EU’s lead.

Access to modern energy services is a prerequisite for achieving socio-economic development and reducing poverty.

Ishmael Edjekumhene

“Access to modern energy services is a prerequisite for achieving socio-economic development and reducing poverty,” says Ishmael Edjekumhene, director of KITE, a Ghanaian non-profit organisation promoting clean energy solutions. The organisation is among the signatories to the call: “Since the Civil Society Call seeks to drum home this point, it resonates with KITE’s corporate philosophy, hence our decision to join. We do expect that a concerted EU strategy to promote enhanced access to modern energy services would make available much needed financial, technology and technical resources for expanding access to modern energy in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

The call was launched ahead of the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All 2012 in order to demonstrate civil society’s commitment to achieving the goal of energy access for all by 2030 and to highlight the key role that the EU can play in meeting the challenge.

The EU is uniquely positioned to be a global leader in supporting the scaling-up of access to energy in Sub-Saharan Africa, both in terms of financing and policy support.

Fiona Lambe

“It will not be possible to make real progress on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) without scaling up access to modern energy in Sub-Saharan Africa – with less than five years until the MDG deadline, time is running out to address this issue,” warns Fiona Lambe, research associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute, one of the project partners. “[Achieving] universal access to energy by 2030 […] will require investment of USD 36 billion per year. This is ambitious but affordable – equating to just 3 % of projected energy investment by 2030. The EU is uniquely positioned to be a global leader in supporting the scaling-up of access to energy in Sub-Saharan Africa, both in terms of financing and policy support.”

A challenge and an opportunity

The call argues that the challenge of achieving energy for all must also be seen as an opportunity, fuelling business, economic growth and prospects across the developing and developed world.

Having lighting after dark so a shop can stay open for longer, or fuel for an engine to mill grain or a pump to irrigate land, can be the difference between earning a decent livelihood or not, between escaping a subsistence lifestyle and the cycle of poverty or not

Margaret Gardner

“For billions of the world’s poorest people, the ability to earn a living depends heavily on access to energy,” explains Margaret Gardner, communications director at Practical Action, a project partner organisation. “Having lighting after dark so a shop can stay open for longer, or fuel for an engine to mill grain or a pump to irrigate land, can be the difference between earning a decent livelihood or not, between escaping a subsistence lifestyle and the cycle of poverty or not.  It is this direct connection between energy and poverty reduction, the first Millennium Development Goal, that is typically amongst the most mentioned in conversations on energy poverty, but the least understood in practice.” 

The Civil Society Call is part of the Energy for All 2030 project running from April 2010 to March 2013. The three-pronged objective of this EU-funded initiative is to raise public awareness of the need for greater support of energy access for development, policy dialogue between African and European partners and political commitment to support the prioritisation of energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa, notably within the framework of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership.