Investment in Tanzania’s energy sector is growing, but how much attention is being given to decentralised energy solutions for people who still lack energy for their basic needs: to light their homes and power their farms and businesses?

Achieving energy access for everyone requires more and better targeted investment, but what role does climate finance play in filling the funding gaps? This paper examines data on the major climate funds to assess what share of international public finance goes toward energy access and compares this to overall finance needs for the sector.

Increasingly the private sector is expected to finance access to modern energy services in developing countries. Yet governments and donors still have much to learn about working with business, while low-income markets are unfamiliar and risky for private investors.

There is a growing interest in how to deliver energy services to people on a low income, not just for household use but to earn a living: the so-called ‘productive uses’ of energy. One sector that deserves particular attention is smallholder agriculture.

The Argentine government’s PERMER (Project for Renewable Energy in Rural Markets) programme, introduced in 1999, provides electricity for basic lighting and social communication needs for families and public services in remote, rural areas, which are beyond the reach of the grid.