Rockefeller Foundation Green Power Gap: 8,700 Terawatt-Hours of Clean Energy Needed in 72 Countries

Green Power Gap estimates the renewable energy capacity that must be generated by 2050 for these countries to meet both global development and climate goals
Outlines four new pathways from energy poverty to close the gap for 3.8 billion people in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Middle East

NEW YORK | August 7, 2024 ― The Rockefeller Foundation released a new report today that calculates an 8,700 terawatt-hour (TWh) “Green Power Gap” across 72 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean, and the Middle East, which is approximately twice the United States’ annual generation. Currently home to 3.8 billion people, these countries must deploy 8,700 TWh of clean power by 2050 in order to leapfrog from more traditional, costly, and inefficient power systems into a future of energy abundance. The Green Power Gap: Achieving an Energy Abundant Future for Everyone also identifies a green window of opportunity and sets out four new pathways to close the 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,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. “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.”

The 72 countries analyzed in the report represent 68 that fall below the Modern Energy Minimum (MEM), which is defined as having an average annual per capita usage of less than 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) necessary to lift people out of poverty, create jobs, and drive economic development. The report also includes four additional countries* that have surpassed the MEM threshold but are included in the “energy-poor” category because significant proportions of their populations still live well below the MEM.

With only eight out of the 72 countries in Latin America & the Caribbean (Bolivia, El Salvador*, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua) and the Middle East (Syria and Yemen), the rest are concentrated in Africa and Asia.

Africa

Angola
Benin
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo
Côte d’Ivoire
Djibouti
Democratic Republic of Congo
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gabon*
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau

Liberia
Kenya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Morocco
Mozambique
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Tanzania
Togo
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe

“While an energy transition is already taking hold in many advanced and emerging markets, far too many people in Africa are being left behind,” said William Asiko, Vice President and head of The Rockefeller Foundation’s Africa Regional Office. “The good news is that we are seeing big and bold ambitions emerge, such as the recent commitment by the World Bank and the African Development Bank to electrify 300 million Africans by 2030. These kinds of commitments, coupled with Africa’s superior renewable energy resources, present a unique opportunity for the continent to create diverse, flexible, and reliable renewable energy systems – and we believe quantifying the Green Power Gap is an important step towards collective action.”

Asia

Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Cambodia
India*
Indonesia*
Kiribati
Micronesia
Myanmar

Nepal
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Samoa
Sri Lanka
Timor-Leste
Tonga
Tuvalu

“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,” said Deepali Khanna, Vice President and head of The Rockefeller Foundation’s Asia Regional Office. “Countries in the region, especially India and Indonesia, are already paving the way by deploying renewable energy technologies at unprecedented scale.”

Calculating the Green Power Gap

For this report, The Rockefeller Foundation sorts the 193 UN member countries into three categories: (1) “Advanced economies,” which are the 55 countries defined as high-income by the World Bank; (2) “Energy-poor countries,” representing the 68 energy poor countries, plus the additional four* identified above; and (3) “Emerging economies,” representing the 66 countries that fall between the two categories (this group also saw their consumption increase by nearly 4,000 kWh per annum over the past 50 years, as compared to “energy-poor” countries that only saw a 500 kWh increase).

The Green Power Gap was calculated by determining how much carbon the world can emit while keeping global temperatures below 1.75°C and while accounting for population growth and development goals. It also assumes that the 55 “advanced” and 66 “emerging” countries will achieve net-zero emissions in 2050 and 2060, respectively.

Based on those calculations, this scenario’s remaining 207 gigatons (GT) carbon budget allows considerable room for the 72 “energy-poor” countries to grow. Focusing on the power sector alone, fossil fuel generation can grow moderately in the near term, but in the long term, green power must become dominant. For example, in 2030, about two-thirds of the total generation could still come from fossil fuels in energy-poor countries. But by 2040, that share would need to fall to 30%, and net zero must be achieved by 2070.

Four Pathways to Close the Gap

Achieving energy abundance will require a blend of technology, but that blend will differ heavily based on individual country resources and needs. Existing power system assets and the availability of renewable energy assets in each country will determine which type of green leapfrog opportunities are most viable. Based on this, the report identifies four pathways to clean energy abundance enabled by modern technology. These are:

Gradual grid greening: This pathway is appropriate in countries like India that have developed grids and considerable centralized fossil fuel generation assets.
Mixed grid renewable evolution: This pathway is appropriate in countries like Nigeria with limited grid and generation capacity but higher population density.
Decentralized solar storage: This pathway is appropriate in countries such as Burkina Faso, which have excellent solar resources but where grid development and access to other renewable resources are limited.
Decentralized renewable mix: This pathway is suitable for countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo with limited grid and generation assets but with diverse high-quality renewable resources available.

“Closing the Green Power Gap is in every country’s interest,” said Dr. Joseph Curtin, Managing Director of The Rockefeller Foundation’s Power and Climate team and co-author of the report. “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.”

The Rockefeller Foundation aims to explore these divergent pathways in greater detail in future analysis.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

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