Renewable Energy Contributes to Poverty Alleviation

Urban energy use varies drastically from one country to another. Yet nothing can be as disparate as the rich urban areas in the more economically developed countries, to the rising slums found in many cities undergoing rapid economic growth. Many of these impoverished areas do not even have access to energy or fresh water.

Women and Renewable Energy

: Credit: GTZ

Hand in hand with poverty alleviation comes the issue of gender inequality. As long as half the population is not being utilized, overcoming poverty becomes significantly more difficult. Women and girls are a valuable resource in eradicating poverty.

Renewable energy is not a gender neutral issue.

Unsustainable energy sources impact women and girls the most. Many girls have to walk for miles each day to attain fuel for cooking and heating, and preventing them from receiving an education. These fuels produce indoor air pollution, which results in major health plague for the poor.

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Further Information

For more information on renewable energy and poverty eradication, please visit REN21's website section on the issue.

Relevant Programmes

Practical Action: Technology Challenging Poverty is an advocacy campaign to provide basic clean energy services to the 2 billion people in the world without access. Visit their website for extensive information on energy poverty and strategies to overcome this challenge.

Relevant Organizations

ENERGIA - International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy

ENERGIA attempts to empower women via sustainable energy. Through projects, programmes and policies that explicitly address gender and energy issues, they seek outcomes that enhance development opportunities for both women and men, and increase the sustainability of energy services.

GTZ - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Programme

REsources

“Gender Perspectives on Renewable Energy for the International Conference on Renewable Energy (Renewables 2004), Bonn 1-4 June 2004.”
Position Paper, Women as a Stakeholder Group.
Accessible here.

"Gender and Renewable Energy"
Newsletter, Centre for Women
UN - ESCWA, December 2006, Vol. 1, Issue 2
Accessible here.

Toolkit

Gender & Energy for Sustainable Development: A Toolkit and Resource Guide

The differing roles of women and men are rarely considered, or at least not explicitly, in the development of energy projects, policies, and programmes. To act on this disparity, the authors, the United Nations Development Programme, ENERGIA, and the Swedish International Development Agency, present a set of tools to engage energy planners, development practitioners, and community groups to think critically about gender and energy, and to introduce a series of questions in planning. The authors hope the guidebook will result in enhanced sustainability of energy services and an increase in human development opportunities, for both women and men.