About 733 million people – almost 1 in 10 worldwide – do not have access to electricity and the dignity and opportunities it brings. In addition, about 2.4 billion people, a third of the world’s population, do not have access to clean technologies and energy for cooking. Instead, they are often using fuels that create health, environmental and social costs that disproportionately impact women and children.  

Access to clean, affordable, reliable energy means equality. It means dignity. It can create opportunities for human development.

UNDP and its partners aim to accelerate access to sustainable clean energy to help communities power hospitals and schools, support livelihoods and advance socio-economic growth.

In 2022, the UNDP Accelerator Labs and the UNDP Sustainable Energy Hub, with support from the Honey Bee Network and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, joined forces to launch #peoplepowered – a campaign to source, learn from, and celebrate grassroots innovators and their solutions to advocate for clean energy access for all.

The campaign uncovered 200+ solutions, which included:

Solutions to generate energy

• One third is using solar energy (34%) with the top contributing region being Latin America & the Caribbean 

• Another third is using thermal energy (27%) with the top contributing region being Africa 

Solutions for clean cooking

• two-thirds of them are using thermal energy (68%) 

• Asia Pacific (47%) and Africa (30%) are the top 2 contributing regions 

These solutions are presented here, complemented by others that were mapped either before, or since.