A human rights approach to energy, poverty and gender inequality (original) (raw)

Access to Energy: A Human Right

One cannot deny that the access to energy facilitates. From employment creation to human development, from security interests to the empowerment of women; energy remains at the heart of all countries’ core interests. However, the statistics are quite alarming. Twenty percent of the world’s population is still without access to electricity; and almost three billion people still rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating.1 A major discussion point that stems from these statistics is that the lack of access to modern energy is a major barrier to addressing basic human rights and building shared prosperity; more specifically, a hindrance to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Energy, Poverty, and Gender: A Synthesis

The World Bank, Washington DC, 2003

All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America First printing April 2003 The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this book are entirely those of the authors and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this volume do not imply on the part of the World Bank Group any judgment on the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. The material in this publication is copyrighted. The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and grants permission to reproduce this work.

The political economy of energy poverty: A review of key challenges

Energy for Sustainable Development, 2012

This review specifically investigates the concepts of energy poverty and energy ladders. It provides the most current available data on energy poverty, electrification, and dependency on biomass fuels for cooking. It elaborates on the relationship between energy access and millennium development goals, especially the connection between modern energy services and development, public health, gender empowerment, and the degradation of the natural environment. It notes that energy poverty has serious and growing public health concerns related to indoor air pollution, physical injury during fuelwood collection, and lack of refrigeration and medical care in areas that lack electricity. It argues that energy poverty affects both the gender roles within society and the educational opportunities available to children and adults. It documents that the environmental impacts of energy poverty encompass deforestation and changes in land use, as well as the emission of greenhouse gases. The final section of the review underscores the structural elements of the global energy system that entrench and sustain energy poverty.

Energy as it relates to poverty alleviation and environmental protection

Energy and it relates to poverty alleviation and …, 1999

This book examines the importance of energy in addressing poverty eradication and environmental regeneration in light of key elements of the debate, current experiences and appropriate policy instruments. The relationship of energy to various facets of poverty are explored, including health issues, economic concerns, social welfare issues and environmental degradation. A series of concrete policy measures designed to promote energy services that will lead to poverty eradication and environmental regeneration are presented.

Energy justice and development

S Bouzarovski, S Fuller and T Reames (eds) Handbook on Energy Justice, 2023

Energy systems of production and consumption in least-developed countries are poorly understood, and policy formulation frequently occurs in absence of empirical data (Baka and Vaishnava, 2020; Bazilian et al., 2014). Consequently, research in development studies often fails to account for the centrality of energy access to processes of development in poorer countries of the global South (Schiffer, 2020). For many of these countries, limited energy use creates barriers to economic growth and development (Eggoh et al., 2011). Addressing these barriers forms the basis for the UN Sustainable Development Goals. While SDG 7 foregrounds energy access and use within wider development goals (UNDP, 2015), justice issues are not explicitly included (Munro et al., 2017). In this chapter, we aim to broaden understandings of energy justice by opening a dialogue with development thinking as it has emerged, evolved and changed since the post-World War II era. We suggest this entails scrutinizing energy justice principles from multiple, situated perspectives, adjusted to the conditions that shape policy action in contexts in the global South that have been recipients of development interventions. It also involves moving beyond the economic and technological perspectives on energy that have permeated energy debates (Axon and Morrissey, 2020) and towards greater recognition of people-centred views of energy, and the politics and power relations embedded within changing energy systems (Healy and Barry, 2017).

The Predicament of Women in Accessing Energy in Developing Countries: A Call for Action

Energy is fundamental to human development, and the wealth of a nation is determined mostly by the type and dimension of its energy access. Therefore providing access to clean, affordable, and sustainable energy source for people in developing countries is one of the critical developmental challenges facing the international community. It is a critical component necessary for attaining social economic development, and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 1 It is estimated that about 1.6 billion people live without reliable source of energy and 2.7 billion people rely on traditional biomass fuels for cooking and heating. 2 Majority of the people without access to modern energy services live in rural areas of the developing world mainly in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. 3 Due to population growth, these figures are expected to increase and not decrease. For example the IEA projected that by 2030, 996 million people will rely on biomass for cooking in Africa compared to 646 million people in 2002. 4

Resolving Poverty-Gender-Energy-Nexus by Stakeholder Engagement

Abstract No development is real that does not address poverty, as it is one of the world’s most fundamental and urgent issues. Energy is a commodity that provides services and offers job opportunities. It is a basic necessity, for survival and a fundamental input to economic and social development. Poverty influences and determines energy choices of poor households. Secure and improved energy services are a necessary condition for development and poverty reduction, and yet energy security has not figured prominently in the development agenda. Typically, a poor urban family spends 20% of its income on fuels (Barnes, 1995).1 Energy has an equity dimension: Poor households use less energy than wealthier ones in absolute terms. Further the energy-poverty nexus has distinct gender characteristics. Gender roles of men and women, with their accompanying responsibilities, constraints, opportunities, and needs, are defined by a particular society. These roles change over time and vary widely within and across cultures Lack of energy services is directly correlated with the major elements of poverty, including inadequate healthcare, low education levels and limited employment opportunities. Gender issues have come to the forefront in many development sectors including agriculture, forestry and water but the energy sector has been slow to acknowledge the links between gender equality, energy and development In many developing countries women are particularly affected by lack of accessible and affordable energy services due to their traditional roles, household responsibilities, and low social and political status. Men and women have different energy needs and may have different ideas about sustainable livelihoods. Men are mainly responsible for technical decisions and investments while the women have the responsibility for energy conservation It is estimated that 70% of the 1.5 billion people living on less than a dollar a day are women2 According to the World Bank (2001) women of all developing countries spend between 2-9 hours a day collecting fuel and fodder, and performing cooking chores. The responsibility for household energy provision affects women’s health disproportionately to men’s. More than half of the world’s households cook with wood, animal waste, crop residues and untreated coal. Biomass collection to meet a household’s energy needs is the burden of women and girls. In rural areas, it can mean spending several hours a day collecting fuel wood loads of 20 kg or more. “According to the World Health Organization, exposure to indoor air pollution is responsible for the nearly two million excess deaths, primarily women and children, from cancer, respiratory infections and lung diseases and for four percent of the global burden of disease”. 3. Shifting from fuel wood to cleaner sources of energy, like kerosene or LPG, halves the mortality rate of children under five (World Bank, 2001) In most developing countries, the majority of informal sector enterprises are owned and operated by women, with women making up the largest proportion of the work force. Women’s survival tasks, based on their own metabolic energy inputs are, like biomass, invisible in energy statistics (Cecelski, 1999)4. Women have to be empowered to make choices about energy. This vicious cycle of energy poverty needs to be broken. The invisibility of energy-poverty issues leads to decision- makers not being fully aware of their significance, and so policies and strategies fail to address the issues fully like the introduction of stoves in India in 2003 This paper looks at these issues and options available for resolving this poverty-gender-energy-nexus by engaging the stakeholders and use of NGO’s and Corporates as part of their CSR programme from the experience of a developing country - India. ***** 1 Barnes D (1995), Consequences of Energy Policies for the Urban Poor. FPD Energy Note No7, The World Bank, Washington. 2 (UNDP, 1995 Human Development Report). 3 Nigel Bruce, et al., "Indoor air pollution in developing countries: a major environmental and public health challenge," Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2000: 1078-1092. quoted in http://www.rice.edu/energy/research/poverty&energy/index.html 4 Cecelski, E (1999) The Role of Women in Sustainable Energy Development, Report to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Bolder Colorado, USA.

The Human Development Paradigm and Social Value of Energy

Routledge Handbook of Energy Transitions, 2022

Marginalization of communities is a global, multidimensional challenge with social, ecological, and economic implications for sustainable futures. Energy systems may be an active component in the creation and perpetuation of marginalization, as well as in its disruption. Therefore, while one of the key goals of undertaking deliberate transitions of energy systems lies in rapidly cutting emissions for planetary well-being, an equally critical and inseparable goal is to transform the human well-being landscape – that is, to accelerate human development in historically marginalized communities. This chapter explores facets of human development including equitable growth, agency, and identity, socioeconomic opportunity and justice, safeguards for vulnerabilities to climate change and exclusion, and so on, in marginalized communities undergoing localized energy transitions. Employing the social value of energy framework for a systemic analysis of case studies from Bolivia, Nepal, and Bangladesh, illustrations of positive shifts, missed opportunities, and future pathways of the intertwined energy and human development transitions are discussed. Three critical aspects emerge for the pursuit of equitable, just, and sustainable energy transitions for human development in marginalized communities: identifying social purpose of designing energy systems, incorporating ethics and sociocultural values in energy decisions, and inclusion of due process and legitimate actors in energy governance.