Strengthening the Poverty Impact of Renewable Electricity Investments: Summary of E-Discussion

On 19 and 20 March 2014 IDS convened an e-discussion on ‘strengthening the poverty impact of renewable electricity investments’. The event sought to instigate a global dialogue on what is required to maximise the poverty impact of clean electricity investments, as well as inform ongoing IDS work on this topic as part of our Accountable Grant with DFID. The e-discussion was structured around three threads: 1. How strong is the evidence that electrification has an impact on poor people, and does this matter in decisions to finance renewable generation capacity projects? 2. How can the poverty impact of renewable generation capacity projects be maximised? 3. How can poverty eradication be introduced into the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) and climate finance agendas? This note summarises the contributions made by different participants in the e-discussion. It generalises the points most commonly raised around each thread and reflects specific points of strong consensus or contestation, but without identifying specific contributors by name. It also provides a project team reflection on how valuable the event was for our research and why.