Energy Efficiency Policies for Local Communities (SSA)

Abstract

With a tight growing national budget in developing countries and the rising demand for electricity, policymakers are seeking for private capital as a key source for funding energy efficiency and climate change related infrastructure. Developing countries seek to target energy efficiency programs as means of saving significant energy from such programs to distributed to the large number of communities living without access to modern energy for lighting and cooking. Designing Institutional framework to achieving these targets are prime recommendations from several preachers. These institutional frameworks must target institutional investors such as the Global energy fund (GEF), insurance companies and other long term investors whose $71 trillion in assets form one of the largest pools of private capital in the world. These funds can be used to address developing (SSA) country’s energy needs through energy efficiency and climate change mitigation programs. Empirical evidence by several researchers on Climate Policy state that, various attractive investment opportunities exist, if nations could reduce institutional barriers to attract investors for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. Other investor groups recommended by researchers are the Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change (GIC) and UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) together represent global institutional investors responsible for over $22 trillion in assets. Thus, the question becomes whether developing countries are prepared to enact and align policies to bridge the financing gap in attracting institutional investments to address their energy shortfalls and climate change challenges?