Environment and Energy

UNDP Energy Programmes & Projects

UNDP Energy Portfolio:  List of Projects and Project Summaries

Overview

Due to the importance of energy in promoting sustainable development, and increasing concerns about the threats climate change, UNDP’s sustainable energy and climate change portfolio has been growing rapidly. UNDP sustainable energy activities have increased significantly over the past fifteen years, supporting initiatives in developing countries around the world. A critical juncture came in the early 1990’s when Agenda 21 and a series of important instruments, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, were adopted and the GEF was put into place. These have served to greatly expand programme funding for UNDP activities addressing climate change and other environment-related energy issues.

Before 1990, programmes focused primarily on support for energy sector planning, promotion of energy efficiency, and rational management of conventional energy, including oil, gas and electricity. The expansion of UNDP’s energy programme during the 1990’s reflected a transition toward sustainable energy initiatives, with more of a focus on energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy planning.

As Figure 1 shows, between 1986 and 1990 the total resources programmed for energy and climate-related activities amounted to over US$153 million. Over the next five-year period, beginning in 1991, energy activities totaling US$210 million were funded. This amount more than tripled to over US$663 million between 1996 and 2000. This significant growth has been shaped by expanded collaboration with bilateral and multilateral partners, most notably through the GEF-financed portfolio on energy and climate change.

In addition, UNDP has been working on rehabilitation of the electricity network in northern Iraq as a part of the inter-agency humanitarian assistance programme. Funded through the Oil for Food mechanism, this programme allocated about US$1 billion to energy-related activities from its inception up to 2002.

Although funding for UNDP energy activities has increased substantially,it has not been evenly distributed. Programme funding in Africa over the past 15 years has increased by US$ 38 million, less than funding increases in other regions (see Figure 2), while the challenge of increasing access to energy services is most pressing in Africa looking at the region as a whole. Least developed countries (LDCs) need activities that focus on local concerns and social benefits, especially increasing economic opportunities. During the last decade, energy activities not eligible for GEF support (activities which have important local benefits but which cannot be demonstrated to have a significant environmental impact at the global level) have decreased (see Figure 3).

Although energy activities funded by UNDP regular resources and other programmes such as the GEF Small Grants Programme have played an important role, more efforts are required to provide benefits for LDCs, especially in Africa. The Thematic Trust Fund on Energy for Sustainable Development is designed to help UNDP mobilize resources to make that possible, as well as to assist countries in securing increased GEF co-financing.