Since 2016 UDP has been working with UNHCR and other humanitarian organisations to better understand the issues and opportunities surrounding access to clean energy in situations of displacement

By the end of 2019, 79.5m people had been forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order. This is more than 1% of the world’s population. UNHCR and host countries are struggling to accommodate growing numbers of refugees, 85% of whom are hosted by low or middle-income countries.

While global data remains patchy and unstandardized, approximately 90% of refugees living in rural settlements have very limited access to reliable, clean and sustainable electricity or cooking fuels. An initial baseline of energy data in displacement was published to accompany the launch of the Clean Energy Challenge, in December 2019, though this remains limited in scope and comparability.

Fuel poverty among displaced ‘persons of concern’ often leads to unsustainable deforestation and a range of risks to human life and health, including indoor air pollution, conflict with local communities and violent crimes committed against the refugee women and children who walk to harvest woodfuel. The lack of access to reliable electricity supresses opportunities for education and income generating activities for families, and can undermine the ability of humanitarian organisations to deliver essential services. The critical role of energy became clear in 2020 as part of UN’s global COVID-19 Humanitarian Response.

Despite these clear issues and opportunities, access to sustainable energy has been overlooked or neglected within the humanitarian agenda because of a lack of expertise and funding, or a reluctance from host governments to authorize long-term infrastructure in ‘temporary’ settlements. Research into these issues was first conducted by the Moving Energy Initiative (2015-2020), which we seek to build upon.

Among other issues, the GPA framework document highlights the lack of data and empirical evidence as a major factor limiting the development and implementation of sustainable energy solutions in the context of humanitarian assistance. Where data does exist it is piecemeal and often not comparable, meaning that global tracking for SDG7 in situations of displacement is not currently possible.