Access to affordable and clean energy and gender equality are two of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals that go hand in hand. There has been good progress towards the first of these, with the number of people without access to electricity falling from 1.2 billion in 2010 to 759 million in 2019. However, despite this progress, women are less likely to benefit from improved energy access.
Empowering women to work in the off-grid appliance sectors can help improve gender equality in energy access. According to ENERGIA, female innovators are more likely to access hard-to-reach and female-led households. Specifically targeting these households will improve both energy access and gender equality.
We take a closer look at two projects that won funding from the Efficiency for Access Research and Development Fund, managed by Energy Saving Trust and funded by UK aid and the IKEA Foundation, which will help level the playing field while addressing the climate emergency, and enhance access to renewable energy for women, girls and other vulnerable groups.