UNDP’s energy strategy is based on the premise that energy is an essential instrument to achieve economic prosperity, social equity and environmental sustainability, including reduced poverty, improved health and educational outcomes and reduced hardship for women and children. In fact, to achieve all of the Millennium Development Goals, including the goal of reducing poverty by half, improved access to energy services is a pre-requisite.

Energy has been identified as a NEPAD priority, which targets the increase to 30% of the percentage of the African population having access to a viable and affordable supply of energy in 20 years from the current rate of about 10%. The critical role of energy for poverty reduction and sustainable development was also acknowledged at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) - the ten-year follow-up to the Rio Summit - held in Johannesburg in 2002. The WSSD conference also called for the development of “Type-II partnerships” to implement the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. UNDP is active in two energy partnerships: the LP Gas Rural Energy Challenge and the Global Village Energy Partnership.

Fast Facts: 70% of the total energy consumption in Africa is based on traditional fuels (fuel wood, dung, agricultural residue). 8% of the rural population in Sub-Saharan Africa has access to electricity compared to 38% in urban areas. Total foreign aid (ODA) was about $60 billion per year (2000) for all sectors and all issues, while the value of energy subsidies in the South was $50 billion per year (1990). Private and public investments in energy are projected to be $300-500 billion per year for the next 20 years, mostly in the South. Over 800 million people in developing countries as a whole benefited from rural electrification schemes during 1970-1990, but only 20 million gained access in Sub-Saharan Africa. Between 1990 and 1998 Africa accounted for only US$ 16 billion of the total investment in public-private partnerships (mostly infrastructure) in developing nations of US$ 497 billion.

Global Village Energy Partnership

The Global Village Energy Partnership (GVEP) was launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. As a “partnership of partnerships”, it brings together a wide variety and number of partners. By accelerating the pace and scope of energy activities in a more coordinated fashion to reach the target of improving access to energy services for an additional 300 million people, mainly living in rural areas, by 2015, GVEP will rely on a multi-sectoral partnership approach by reaching out to non-energy organizations in the health, education, agriculture, water, transport and enterprise sectors; and offer a range of technology solutions to meet energy needs in these sectors. This covers renewable energy, energy efficiency, modern biomass, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and cleaner fossil fuels.

LP Gas Rural Energy Challenge

Through the expanded use of a cleaner-burning, readily-available fuel, called Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LP Gas), UNDP is working to address the challenges of meeting the thermal energy needs (heating, cooking, and heat-using productive processes) of rural and peri-urban populations in developing countries. UNDP
together with the World LP Gas Association (WLPGA) officially launched the LP Gas Rural Energy Challenge (“LPG Challenge”) in October 2002 at the WLPGA Annual Meeting. The LP Gas Challenge aims to address the adverse impacts on health, the environment and economic productivity that are related to dependence on traditional biomass fuels.

Description: LP Gas has been successfully introduced in many developing countries and has had significant positive sustainable development impacts. The supply of LP Gas is growing globally and technologies for its end-use are well known and relatively simple. Access to LP Gas and the energy services it can provide remain constrained in many rural and peri-urban areas of developing countries. Building upon the individual strengths of the partners involved, the objective of this initiative is to address two critical issues for the expansion of LPG use: availability and affordability. This partnership is expected to result in investments in small-scale businesses to distribute LP Gas canisters in rural and peri-urban areas.

UNDP Resources: UNDP’s Global Programme on Sustainable Energy supports – jointly with the WLPGA - in-country multi-stakeholder dialogue workshops in selected countries to identify market barriers and initial investment options to reach rural markets. Further resources are needed to support projects that will address business development and consumer finance opportunities and result in expanded LP Gas markets and use in rural and peri-rural areas.

Geographic Focus: Efforts will begin during 2003-04 in six pilot countries, including three on the African continent. An initial workshop has taken place in Ghana and future workshops are planned in Morocco and South Africa.

For additional information contact, Ines havet, SURF Energy advisor: Ines.havet@undp.org

LP Gas Challenge in Ghana

A workshop was held in Accra, Ghana in August to create a forum for the various stakeholders to discuss the nature of the Ghanaian LP Gas industry, to identify the major barriers and to lay out the steps required in order to establish a viable rural market for LP Gas in Ghana. There were fifty-three participants, drawn from the public and private sectors, international development and donor agencies and NGOs.

Priority activities identified by the workshop participants were to:

• Increase consumer access through LPG awareness activities by providing micro-credit facilities and removing cost barriers, including the provision of smaller sizes of gas cylinders and simplified/appropriate LPG end-use equipment like single-burner stoves were proposed as options.
• Establish safe and reliable LPG Cylinder management and LPG supply and distribution systems. Some options suggested were to adapt existing safety standards and regulations in use by the Energy Commission to local condition and to intensify training; and
• Create an effective and responsible industry association guided by a legislated regulatory framework to address the existing regulated financial incentives (or cost build-up) for distributors and transporters in rural areas.