Energy and Poverty: How to Make Modern Energy Access Universal?

Over 20% of the global population – 1.4 billion people – lack access to electricity. Some 40% of the global population – 2.7 billion people – rely today on the traditional use of biomass for cooking. In this report, the IEA estimates that an investment of $36 billion per year is needed to ensure that every person in the world benefits from access to electricity and clean cooking facilities by 2030.

This report was originally presented on 21 September 2010 on the sidelines of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit in New York at a dinner hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.