The Rockefeller Foundation has unveiled a report outlining a significant 8,700 terawatt-hour (TWh) "Green Power Gap" across 72 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. This gap, impacting 3.8 billion people, necessitates the deployment of clean energy to transition from traditional, inefficient power systems to sustainable energy abundance by 2050. The report highlights a critical opportunity and introduces four pathways to address this challenge.
Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, emphasized the urgency of closing this gap: "The fate of 3.8 billion people's lives and the planet itself will depend on whether we can close the Green Power Gap. History makes clear that people and countries will pursue opportunity regardless of the climate consequences. The only way to achieve the world's climate goals is scaling solutions and mobilizing the capital needed to ensure 3.8 billion people have enough clean electricity to lift up their lives and livelihoods."
Findings indicate that 68 of the 72 countries fall below the Modern Energy Minimum (MEM) with annual per capita usage under 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), a threshold necessary for alleviating poverty and fostering economic development. Four additional countries exceed the MEM but have significant populations living below this threshold.
Eight of the countries analyzed are in the Caribbean and Latin America, while Asia has twenty. Africa is home to 44 of the countries with the least access to clean energy, and 90% of its total energy consumption from fossil fuels.
Deepali Khanna, Vice President and head of The Rockefeller Foundation's Asia Regional Office, highlighted the region's potential: "While there is no one-size-fits-all answer to a future of clean energy abundance, we believe that there is a 'green window of opportunity' based on existing power system assets and the availability of renewable energy resources in Asia. Countries in the region, especially India and Indonesia, are already paving the way by deploying renewable energy technologies at unprecedented scale."
The Rockefeller Foundation categorized the 193 UN member countries into three segments: advanced economies, energy-poor countries, and emerging economies. The Green Power Gap was determined by considering carbon emission limits to maintain global temperatures below 1.75°C, along with population growth and development objectives. The report assumes advanced and emerging economies will achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and 2060, respectively, leaving a 207 gigaton (GT) carbon budget for energy-poor countries.
The report identifies four distinct pathways tailored to country-specific resources and needs:
Dr. Joseph Curtin, Managing Director of The Rockefeller Foundation's Power and Climate team and co-author of the report, stated, "Closing the Green Power Gap is in every country's interest. Also, these 72 countries have superior renewable resources when compared to countries that are already deploying renewables at scale. So rather than follow the path taken by many advanced economies, they have a green window of opportunity to leapfrog to cleaner, nimbler, and more flexible power systems."
