In June 2012, 45,381 people from 188 countries came to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the biggest UN conference ever to be held. 

After 9 days of intense deliberations, The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were born, producing a set of universal goals to meet the urgent environmental, political, and economic challenges facing our world.

There are 17 targets, all intertwined and combined with each other’s success and progress. Alleviating poverty ( SDG 1) would not be possible without achieving food security ( SDG 2) and inclusive economic growth (SDG8). 

Among the 17 goals,  SDG 7 has been on the global agenda in the past couple of years, as the rise in clean energy and sustainable development deliberations put the goal on the international agenda.

 Goal 7, affordable, clean energy for all, encompasses a few main components: ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable energy services, increasing the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency, enhancing international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, promoting investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology, expanding infrastructure for supplying sustainable energy services for all in developing countries.

10 years have passed, and with 8 more years to go on the agenda (the goals were meant to be met by 2030), tracking global progress is crucial.

A long, long way to go

Global access to electricity has been steadily rising in recent decades. In 1990 just over 71 per cent of the world population had access; by 2016, this had increased to over 87 per cent. Looking at the numbers, In 2015, the total number without electricity fell below one billion for the first time in decades, and by 2016, it had dropped again to 940 million.

Today, 90 percent of the global population has electricity access, but 759 million people still lack it, with 84 percent living in rural areas.

 Covid-19 and population growth rates in Africa lead to some bleak projections. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that in 2030 some 660 million people will still lack access to electricity and that 940 million people will have to be connected by 2030 to reach universal access. 

This means the access rate will have to more than triple between now and 2030. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, this would mean connecting around 85 million people each year through 2030.

The global advance in electricity access holds unequal progress across regions. In Latin America, the Caribbean, most of Asia, and northern Africa, the advancement in electrification was enough to approach near-universal access by 2019. 

Sub-Saharan Africa tells a different story, as it remains the region with the most significant access deficit, accounting for three-quarters of the global unconnected. 

Twenty countries with the largest populations lacking access to electricity accounted for 76 percent (580 million people) of the global access deficit in 2019. Efforts in these countries are critical to making significant progress toward universal access. The three largest deficit countries—Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia (which replaced India in third place in 2019)—are in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in 2019 they accounted for 90 million, 70 million, and 58 million unserved people.

There are significant disparities in urban vs. rural access to electricity, specifically in SSA. Rural areas still account for 84 per cent of the global population living without electricity (640 million unserved people), while urban areas have been approaching universal access, with 97 percent access since 2016 (leaving 116 million people with no access in 2019).

The off-grid revolution

One of the main advancements that completely changed the electrification sphere is decentralized renewables-based solutions. The number of people connected to off-grid solutions (all technologies) doubled between 2010 and 2019. In 2019, 105 million people had access to off-grid solar solutions, rising from 85 million in 2016, according to a GOGLA 2020 report. 49 percent of them reside in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, according to an analysis from RISE (a set of indicators to help compare national policy and regulatory frameworks for sustainable energy), policy frameworks to support mini-grid and off-grid systems developed more rapidly after 2010 than those for on-grid electrification. This overwhelming growth can be attributed to a few main factors. PAYGO payment schemes were devised in Africa to cater to the electricity needs of poor, underserved communities designated for solar, off-grid solutions. Solar panels and equipment prices decreased significantly in the past decade, making solar home systems and mini-grids much more affordable (and in combination with PAYGO, extremely affordable). International development entities such as the World Bank, USAID, ukaid, and more entered the sector and financed multiple projects. Private companies followed suit and established their presence across the region. Important policies were established, catering to the private sector and stirring meaningful change. And alongside all these, sustainability gained a global focus, and renewable solutions are now much more influential and crucial in meeting other development goals.

But despite remarkable growth, the world may still fall short of 100 percent access to electricity by 2030. In 2018, only one-third of the annual USD 41 billion investment required to achieve universal residential electrification and less than 1% of the annual USD 4.5 billion needed to achieve universal clean cooking access by 2030 were tracked, according to SEforall, an international organization that works in partnership with the United Nations.

Without considering disruptions from the Covid-19 crisis, annual growth in access would have to be an average growth of 0.9 percentage points per year by 2030 to meet the goal, higher than the 0.74 percentage points observed for the past three years.

Closing the access gap is becoming increasingly challenging. Leaving no one behind requires extraordinary measures that must be designed, implemented, and ramped up. It is the golden combination of local governments, policymakers, development institutions, global investors, and private companies that has the power to push the revolution further. Off-grid solar solutions are the only way to reach sdg7, and they set a very clear path for success. It is our job to walk it.