CHAPTER NINE

Rural Clean Energy Access

Accelerating Climate Resilience

Claudia Ringler, Alebachew Azezew Belete, Steven Matome Mathetsa, and Stefan Uhlenbrook

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In coordination with water and other resource sectors, investments in clean energy can boost agricultural productivity and sustainability

Rural livelihoods in low- and middle-income countries are doubly jeopardized by energy poverty and climate change. Lack of access to affordable clean energy reduces agricultural productivity, affects health and nutrition outcomes, and adds to environmental degradation, which in turn, further contributes to climate change.
Reliable access to clean energy can protect rural households against adverse climatic events and support new off-farm economic opportunities. Accelerating a rural clean energy transition will thus be key not only to reducing climate change but also to improving rural lives and livelihoods.
Existing rural lending mechanisms are often unsuitable for the purchase of clean energy technologies, such as photovoltaic solar panels.

Several actions can accelerate rural access to clean, sustainable energy for all:

Identify locations where promising energy and water sources and productive uses are in close proximity; this can jointly support energy, water, and food security without compromising ecosystem health.

Create an enabling environment for accelerated clean energy development. This requires integrated governance across the water-energy-food-environment sectors, including institutions that can help identify synergies or trade-offs with natural resources and livelihoods and thus grow positive impacts. It also requires equitable access to energy through investments, incentives, and direct support for poor farmers and entrepreneurs.
Develop appropriate financial incentives to expand dissemination of clean energy technologies to underserved rural populations, for example, credit at lower interest rates linked to climate mitigation and productive uses of clean energy. Implementation of these financial incentives will require capacity building for both credit suppliers and smallholder farmers.
Strengthen women’s agency in rural clean energy systems. Women and men experience energy and water poverty differently, and energy technologies are often aimed at men. Promoting a women-centered clean energy program can trigger multiple social, economic, and environmental benefits in rural communities.

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