This proposal addresses the structural crisis of energy access, where 1.18 billion people live in energy poverty, and over 2 billion lack access to clean cooking services. The problem is rooted in ageing infrastructure, high tariffs, and a cost of capital three to four times higher than in advanced economies due to perceived investment risks. The stakes are immense: the lack of electricity hinders education and life-saving healthcare, while traditional cooking methods cause 3.7 million annual deaths from indoor air pollution, disproportionately affecting women and children. To resolve these issues, the proposal advocates for several practical policy instruments, including (1) de-risking measures: using blended finance and multilateral guarantees to attract private capital, successfully demonstrated by Nuru in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; (2) targeted subsidies: focusing on connection fees rather than consumption to support low-income households, as seen in Kenya’s Last Mile Connectivity Project; (3) far-sighted energy planning: utilising geospatial tools to identify the best trade-off between the most efficient energy mix, in terms of costs, and the one that ensures affordable, reliable and qualitative connections; 4) innovative business models: implementing “Pay-as-you-go” (PAYG) and “Energy-as-a-service” (EaaS) models, despite current limitations, requiring further innovation. This proposal can unlock socio-economic development by boosting productivity and income while redistributing time; women gain hours previously spent on domestic labour and fuel collection. It shifts the paradigm from centralised, fossil-fuel-dependent grids toward decentralised, local renewable sources like solar mini-grids and small hydropower. It aligns with eradicating poverty beyond growth by expanding fiscal space through innovative funding, such as mineral export taxes or carbon taxes, to finance the transition. It reduces ecological pressure by prioritising renewables and redistributing power through mandatory community participation and the protection of communities’ land rights. Ultimately, it treats energy access as a human right, enabling governments to meet essential needs such as health and safety, independent of traditional GDP growth metrics.
