Energy access is fundamental to any successful development effort. The World Bank supports countries to ensure that the transition to more diversified and cleaner sources of energy meets growing demand, brings economic growth, and creates jobs on a livable planet.
Energy efficiency and renewable energy can mitigate climate change and ensure energy reliability and security. The World Bank Group is one of the largest financiers of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in low- and middle-income countries. We work with partners, including the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), to help achieve universal access to energy by 2030.
Below is a selection of our key investments and results:
Renewables
In the last seven years (FY17 to FY24), the World Bank Group directly invested nearly $16.4 billion in renewables—a steady increase from $1.4 billion in FY17 to over $3 billion in FY24. Almost two-thirds of this support is for transmission and distribution infrastructure to facilitate the integration of renewable energy, guarantees, and upstream support for enabling policies, regulations, and institutions to scale up private investments in renewable energy.
In FY24, our innovative programs blazed new paths to meet global energy challenges. The Europe and Central Asia Renewable Energy Scale-up (ECARES) program, a $2 billion 10-year, multi-phased initiative, will enhance energy security and affordability, providing 15 GW of renewable energy capacity and reducing 240 million metric tons of carbon emissions in emerging and developing economies in the region.
Similarly, in Pakistan, we have committed an additional $1 billion to support renewable energy generation, green the country’s power sector, and reduce the cost of electricity.
Solar and wind technologies are revolutionizing the power sector. They are a game changer for developing countries as solar and wind are abundant, cost-competitive, and a source of reliable power when combined with battery storage.
In Yemen, the World Bank enabled over 91,000 households—21 percent of which were headed by females—to acquire subsidized solar energy systems that support healthcare, education, and water services for 3.2 million people.
In Bolivia, a World Bank-supported renewable energy has connected some 20,200 people to the power grid in remote, underserved areas.
In Bangladesh, the World Bank supports the largest off-grid program in the world through 2.41 million solar home systems, 1,300 solar irrigation pumps, 14 solar-based mini-grids, and 3 million efficient cookstoves. Through this program, around four million people in rural areas now have reliable access to clean energy, creating 30,000 jobs.
In Maldives, the World Bank is helping install 53.5 megawatts (MWh) of solar panels on the islands and in the open ocean, build 40 MWh of battery storage and upgrade the electricity grid to include cleaner energy sources.
Powering a brighter future for Africa
Across Africa, half the population has no access to electricity, creating significant barriers to healthcare, education, productivity, digital inclusivity, and job creation. The World Bank has scaled up support for renewable energy access and energy transitions:
- The Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation Program aims to increase access to sustainable and clean energy across the region by 2030. The program will benefit 100 million people by expanding access to grid and off-grid electricity in a region where only 48 percent of the overall population—and just 26 percent in rural areas—has access to electricity.
- In November 2023, the World Bank supported the launch of a new 25-megawatt solar park with battery storage in the Central African Republic. The park will supply electricity to 250,000 people in the capital of Bangui, almost doubling the country’s electricity generation capacity. It will replace over 90 percent of the energy currently produced by diesel fuel while generating more than $4 million annually for the National Electricity Company.
- In Nigeria, more than 17.5 million Nigerians, or 20 percent of the currently unserved population, will benefit from our Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up Project, which will replace more than 280,000 polluting and expensive fossil-fueled generator sets with standalone solar.
- We are completing the 225-kilovolt transmission line of the Gambia River Basin Development Organization, which will connect the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal through 15 substations, such as the Tambacounda power station.
These projects, and many others, are laying the foundation for the Bank Group’s Mission 300, which, in partnership with the African Development Bank, aims to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030.
Energy efficiency
Energy efficiency is always faster and cheaper than building new generation capacity. Between FY20 and FY24, the World Bank (IBRD/IDA) invested about $6.2 billion to support energy efficiency, including direct investment in public infrastructure such as public buildings or street lighting.
- In Benin, we support energy efficiency by providing 24,670 new households access to improved cooking equipment and 25,000 households access to improved cookstoves. The country has reduced more than 113,000 tons of CO2 emissions due to improved efficiency of lighting and appliances.
- In India, reducing energy demand through measures—ranging from subsidized energy tariffs to deploying 366 million LED bulbs—will save 11,200 GWh of electricity annually.
- In Uzbekistan, where buildings account for 50% of energy consumption, the World Bank supports the country to improve the energy efficiency of public buildings with a $143 million concessional credit.
Energy access
Between FY20 and FY24, the World Bank (IBRD/IDA) approved about $8.1 billion to support energy access. We are ramping up support and leveraging private investments to deliver impact at scale.
- The Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation (ASCENT) Program will put 20 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa on the path to universal energy access, providing sustainable and clean energy access to 100 million people by 2030. Over the next seven years, the program will provide $5 billion in IDA financing and leverage $10 billion of additional private, government, and donor funding for clean-energy access. The program is underway in Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia, and Tanzania.
- In Rwanda, we supported the country in reaching near-universal electricity access. The government has expanded electricity access from 6 percent in 2009 to more than 75 percent as of March 2024 by providing new or improved energy grid access to 230,000 households and off-grid energy access to another 150,000 households. One hundred percent of its health centers and administrative facilities and 84 percent of its schools have been electrified.
- In Tanzania, more than 4.5 million people gained access to electricity. In contrast, over the past decade, more than 1,600 healthcare facilities and 6,000 educational institutions added new connections—emerging as one of the fastest rates of energy-access expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- In Western and Central Africa, over 10.3 million people have received new or improved electricity services from ongoing projects.
- In Senegal, more than 13.2 million people have benefitted from improved electricity access and reliability.
- As part of the West Africa Power Pool Program, the World Bank supported the construction of the Ghana-Burkina Faso Interconnector, which significantly reduced the cost and increased the security of electricity supply to Burkina Faso while increasing Ghana’s electricity-export capacity.
- The World Bank’s mini-grid portfolio amounts to over $1.4 billion. It will support more than 3,000 mini-grids in 30 countries, bringing electricity to more than 380 million people by 2030 and enhancing sustainability and resilience to climate change.
Energy for clean cooking
Access to clean cooking is fundamental to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7.1 and is closely tied to progress in health (SDG 3), gender equality (SDG 5), poverty reduction (SDG 1), and climate action (SDG 13). Yet 2.1 billion people lack access to clean cooking solutions. Women bear the brunt and suffer from poor health, insecurity, and lost productivity.
- Between July 2015 and April 2024, the World Bank provided about $773 million for clean or improved cooking to support 105 million people across 34 access-deficit countries—in Africa and Asia.
- The Bank established the Clean Cooking Fund through ESMAP with a funding target of $500 million. It aims to leverage $2 billion in public and private investments to help 200 million people gain access to clean cooking.
- The Clean Cooking Fund has supported allocating $107 million in grants directly to 27 countries and co-financing ten projects. The current portfolio has leveraged $210 million from IDA/IBRD, $311 million from private financing, and $10.81 million from carbon finance, helping more than 40 million people and 1,500 schools access clean cooking solutions.
Extractives and Critical Minerals
The energy transition creates a trillion-dollar market with tens of millions of jobs along global mineral value chains. Countries can benefit beyond mining and raw minerals exports to capture a larger share of the value added to their mineral production. The World Bank supports countries in harnessing the economic benefits of their mineral resources sustainably, minimizing negative impacts on people and the environment, and promoting sustainable low-carbon practices. We also help countries develop value-added opportunities, including minerals processing and manufacturing clean-energy products that can generate jobs and demand for skilled labor. Learn more
Just Transition Away from Coal
The World Bank's Global Coal Transition Program (GCTP) offers a holistic approach to helping countries scale down coal production by engaging multiple sectors and the entire society. In the past two decades, the World Bank has provided more than $3 billion to support governments in closing coal mines and power plants and ensuring a Just Transition that safeguards the environment, jobs, and income in affected communities.
Methane Reduction
The rapid reduction of methane emissions is one of the most impactful climate actions we can undertake in the short term to address climate change quickly. The World Bank supports client countries in the global effort to reduce methane emissions.
- At COP28, the World Bank launched the Global Flaring and Methane Reduction (GFMR) Partnership, a new $250 million fund focused on helping developing countries cut carbon dioxide and methane emissions generated by the oil and gas industry.
- IFC supported one of the world's largest gas flaring reduction projects in Iraq that helped avoid unnecessary flaring while supporting Iraq's energy transition and expanding energy access.
- In Egypt, GFMR supports the decarbonization of the energy value chain.
- In Bangladesh, the World Bank is helping reduce methane emissions and carbon dioxide by an estimated 7.7 million tons per year.
Battery and Energy Storage
The World Bank has mobilized approximately $850 million in global climate financing for battery storage and energy storage deployment projects.
- The World Bank financed 6.5 GWh of battery storage capacity in active projects and an additional 1.6 gigawatt in future pipelines. The World Bank convened the global Energy Storage Partnership (ESP) hosted by ESMAP to foster international collaboration toward accelerating the deployment of energy storage globally.
- The Bank’s Energy Storage Program has helped scale up sustainable energy storage investments and generate global knowledge on storage solutions, including:
- Catalyzed public and private financing amounting to $725 million in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Maldives, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Ukraine etc., amongst other countries and regions.
- Supported over 14 World Bank lending projects (including six mini-grid projects) to deploy renewable energy and storage solutions and increase battery storage capacity by 2,527 MWh.
- Helped finance India's largest battery project to date—a 120 MWh facility commissioned in November 2023 by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
- The Bank supports Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like the Maldives to embrace storage solutions by installing more than 53.5 MW of solar capacity and 40 MWh of battery storage.
Power Utilities
Electric utilities are the critical link between power generation and electricity distribution to homes and businesses. The World Bank supports countries to improve utilities’ performance through policy, regulatory, institutional, and governance reforms. We also assist utilities in strengthening their operational and financial performance. Our recent report, The Critical Link: Empowering Utilities for the Energy Transition, takes stock of current utility performance challenges in Bank client countries, assesses the threats and opportunities to utility performance that energy transition may create, and highlights solutions to support utilities in navigating the energy transition.
In FY20-24, the World Bank approved about $7.9 billion to improve utility performance.
In Rwanda, the World Bank has helped increase electricity access from 10 percent in 2010 to 54 percent in 2020 by improving the quality and reliability of electricity supply and the capacity of the sector institutions, such as utilities.
In 2022, the World Bank launched the Utility Knowledge Exchange Platform to help utilities, energy sector institutions, regulators, system operators, the private sector, and the World Bank identify best practices, improve operational efficiencies, stimulate businesses, and accelerate technological innovation.
Clean Hydrogen
The World Bank supports countries in deploying clean hydrogen to decarbonize critical sectors such as transport, industry, agriculture, and mining. The Bank launched the Hydrogen for Development Partnership to catalyze financing for hydrogen investments in developing countries and approved more than $1.5 billion in concessional financing to ramp up clean hydrogen projects in FY2024. This is the largest hydrogen engagement among all Multilateral Development Banks.
Hydropower
Hydropower is a clean, renewable energy source that is one of the lowest-cost sources of electricity for consumers. Since 2002, the World Bank has supported 131 hydropower projects in 68 countries, investing $17 billion.
In Vietnam, the World Bank helped develop the Trung Son hydropower plant, which has supplied 1 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of low-cost electricity since 2017, improving the livelihoods of 3,400 households and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1 million metric tons annually.
Last Updated: Oct 18, 2024
