Access to energy is moving at a slower pace and falling behind actual needs to achieve structural transformation in LDCs - a central pillar of the Doha Programme of Action, and critical to achieving all other SDGs.
LDCs are in urgent need of accelerating their progress on universal access to sustainable energy. There are 476 million people who have no energy access in LDCs today, representing a 52% electrification rate, compared with the 90% global average. This problem is even more serious in rural areas, where only 44 % of the population have power access, in addition to several challenges such as the lack of sufficient supply and reliability of power, as well as clean cooking problems. Sufficient supply also drives demand for energy which is not only vital for providers to achieve the path to profitability but also for access to energy to unlock opportunities for economic development.
Despite the abundance of clean energy resources potential in LDCs, the overall share of renewables in total final energy consumption remains very small, and is on a downward trend, falling slightly from 10.7 % to 10.3 % over the last decade. In consequence, fossils solutions are growing more rapidly than renewable ones in these countries which is a major issue for LDCs and the world in general as the consequences of climate change are aggravating, especially for the most vulnerable populations.
Thus, great efforts towards renewables need to be made as they provide a unique opportunity to tackle the lack of energy supply in a sustainable way while providing a mean of accelerating LDCs’ industrial development as proven by the success of East Asian countries. Also, the current difficulties of local populations, especially in remote areas, need to be taken into consideration and additional tools should be used such as the support for SMEs and start-ups geared towards de-centralizing renewables to bring energy to unserved populations using off-grid sources of energy. The PSF can help resolve this challenge by connecting actors from the private sector with real expertise and capacity on renewables with LDCs who need support to back up their energetic transition.