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REPORT (2023/2073(INI))

On EU development cooperation in support of access to energy in developing countries

A-9-2023-0441

Committee on Development · Rapporteur: Caroline Roose

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Parliament's resolution calls for EU development cooperation to promote universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. It urges the EU to increase Official Development Assistance for energy, prioritise grants over loans, and reorient financing towards countries with low electricity access. It demands that energy projects respect free, prior and informed consent of local communities, protect land and water rights, and include gender equality and clean cooking as priorities. It warns against a 'green hydrogen curse' and calls for strict social and environmental standards, including water protection and human rights due diligence. It calls for the EU and Member States to stop financing fossil fuel projects and to lead by example in the clean energy transition.

Committee position. The Committee on Development proposes a resolution calling for EU development cooperation to prioritise universal energy access, clean cooking, gender equality, and human rights, while scaling up funding and stopping fossil fuel financing.

Key points

  1. Recalls that universal access to energy is a basic human right and a precondition for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
  2. Calls for the EU to foster renewable energy in developing countries through policy support, capacity-building and technology transfer, moving away from fossil resources.
  3. Stresses that energy poverty disproportionately affects women and girls and calls for their inclusion as active agents in the energy transition.
  4. Urges the EU to make access to clean cooking a priority in energy partnerships and to support national action in partner countries.
  5. Calls for the EU and Member States to make electrification a priority, invest in generation capacity, and increase the humanitarian aid budget for energy provision in camps.
  6. Urges the EU to ensure policy coherence for sustainable development and support rights-based renewable energy regimes with free, prior and informed consent.
  7. Calls on the EU to support developing countries in establishing regulatory frameworks for energy distribution and to report on progress in improving energy access.
  8. Highlights risks of land and water conflicts from large-scale renewable projects and urges the EU to support mapping, consent, and protection of indigenous rights.
  9. Recommends that EU Member States ratify International Labour Organization Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples.
  10. Warns against a 'green hydrogen curse' and calls for win-win partnerships that benefit exporting countries, with strict social and environmental standards.
  11. Calls for the EU and Member States to increase Official Development Assistance for energy, prioritise grants over loans, and consider debt-for-climate swaps.
  12. Calls for the EU and European development finance institutions to direct investments into distribution, rural electrification, and decentralised renewable energy systems.

Who is affected

  • Developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where energy access is low and debt distress is high.
  • Women and girls, who are disproportionately affected by energy poverty and lack of clean cooking.
  • Indigenous peoples and local communities affected by large-scale renewable energy projects.
  • EU and European development finance institutions, which are called to increase and reorient funding.
  • Refugees and internally displaced persons living in camps, who face energy insecurity.

Figures and deadlines

  • Approximately 733 million people worldwide lack access to affordable, reliable, clean, high-quality energy as of mid-2023.
  • 52% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa lives without access to electricity.
  • Only 30.4% of sub-Saharan Africa's rural population and 80.7% of its urban population have regular access to energy.
  • Only 47% of schools in sub-Saharan Africa have electricity.
  • About 660 million people worldwide will not have access to electricity and around one billion will lack access to clean cooking by 2030 unless action is taken.
  • Women and girls spend on average up to 18 hours a week collecting cooking fuels.
  • 2.4 billion people worldwide rely on traditional cooking fuels, resulting in around 3.7 million premature deaths a year.
  • The EU and its Member States provided EUR 13.8 billion in Official Development Assistance for SDG 7 projects in Africa between 2014 and 2020.

Legal basis: Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; Articles 3(5) and 21 of the Treaty on European Union.