660 million people worldwide may not have access to electricity by 2030: report

New Delhi: Around 675 million people in the world do not have access to electricity, and at current rates, around 660 million people worldwide are projected to be without access to electricity by 2030, a new report from five international organizations said on Tuesday. . Reports by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) also state that up to 230 million people in the world still lack access to cooking. India is using polluting fuels for cooking and 190 crore people will not have clean cooking opportunities by 2030, which is the target date to achieve the UN goal set in 2015 to provide affordable, reliable, sustainable and To ensure access to modern energy. All.

The report also found Rising debt and rising energy prices are worsening Vision to reach clean cooking and universal access to electricity.

“Current projections predict that if we do not take further action and continue with current efforts, there will be 1900 million people without access to clean cooking and 660 million people without electricity in 2030,” the report said. most vulnerable populations and to accelerate climate change.

According to the WHO, 3.2 million people die each year from disease caused by the use of polluting fuels and technologies that increase exposure to toxic levels of household air pollution, the report said.

“The energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is having a profound impact on people around the world,” said Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency. High energy prices hit the most vulnerable, especially those in developing economies. most affected.” Said.

While the clean energy transition is moving faster than many people think, much work still needs to be done to provide sustainable, safe and affordable access to modern energy services for the billions of people living without it.

Key Findings of the Report

• In 2010, 84% of the world’s population had access to electricity. This grew to 91% in 2021, meaning over a billion people gained access in that period. However, the growth rate of access in 2019-2021 was slower than in previous years. Rural electrification efforts contributed to this progress, but a large gap remains within urban areas.
  
• In 2021, 567 million people in sub-Saharan Africa would have no access to electricity, more than 80% of the global population. The access deficit in this sector remained almost the same as in 2010.
  
• The world is off track to achieve universal access to clean cooking by 2030. Up to 2.3 billion people still use polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, largely in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The use of traditional biomass also means that households spend 40 hours a week gathering wood and cooking, which prevents women from being employed or participating in local decision-making bodies, and children from attending school.
  
• According to a 2019 WHO estimate, 3.2 million premature deaths each year were attributed to household air pollution created by using polluting fuels and technologies for cooking.
  
• The use of renewable electricity in global consumption has increased from 26.3% in 2019 to 28.2% in 2020, the largest single-year increase since tracking progress for the SDGs began.
  
• Efforts to increase the share of renewable energy in heating and transport, which represent more than three quarters of global energy consumption, are far from the goal of achieving 1.5oC climate objectives.
  
• Energy intensity – a measure of how much energy the global economy uses per dollar of GDP – improved by 1.8% annually from 2010 to 2020. This is more than a 1.2% improvement from previous decades.
  
• However, the rate of improvement in energy intensity has slowed in recent years and has dropped to 0.6% in 2020. This is the worst year for energy intensity improvements since the global financial crisis, though due largely to pandemic-related restrictions, that may only signal a temporary setback. Annual improvements now need to be 3.4% on average by 2030 to meet SDG target 7.3.
  
• International public financial flows in support of clean energy to developing countries are estimated at US$10.8 billion in 2021, 35% below the 2010–2019 average and nearly 40% of the 2017 peak of US$26.4 billion. In 2021, 19 countries received 80% of the commitments.