The challenge for the development community is to exploit the links between energy and poverty to combat global poverty. The human scale of this challenge is huge. Today, 1.6 billion people lack access to electricity and 2.4 billion rely on traditional biomass for cooking and heating. Indoor air...

The objective of the study was to develop an adequate policy and governance framework for off- grid rural electrification by: assessing the effectiveness and key socio-economic factors and governance structures in present off-grid electricity supply schemes; and exploring and testing sustainable...

Renewable energy and energy efficiency projects continue to perform strongly in the World Bank Group (WBG) energy portfolio and are increasingly being mainstreamed in the WBG's energy lending. In fiscal 2007 a total of US$1,433 million supported 63 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects...

This policy note is a summary of the findings of a joint study of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, and the World Bank. The policy note is organized as follows: the next section, 'in the shadow of king coal,' provides a brief history of the...