Scaling sustainable energy services for displaced people and their hosts: How policy and governance make a difference

Abstract

Access to clean, safe and sustainable energy – the focus of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 – is one of the principal needs of developing-country populations, for cooking, heating, light, communication, study, livelihoods and security. But people who have been forced to flee their homes, some 80 per cent of whom find refuge in low- and middle-income countries, nearly always remain outside national energy policy and planning mechanisms, even though most live and work within a local economy. This research paper draws on five case studies – focusing on Ethiopia, Jordan, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to explore how humanitarian efforts to scale up access to sustainable energy for refugees and other displaced communities are affected by policy and governance structures in host countries. The authors underscore that national energy polices and ambitions for low-carbon development pathways need to be accompanied by frameworks that support integration and self-reliance for displaced people, including through rights to work, move and participate freely in host economies. Equally, humanitarian organizations need to prioritize structures, processes and fundraising mechanisms that enable them to attract investment for sustainable energy initiatives and deploy resources carefully and meaningfully.

Enhancing the environmental sustainability of emergency humanitarian medical cold chains with renewable energy sources

“…High-valued HMCC items are among the most critical supplies delivered in emergency humanitarian operations (Comes et al , 2018; Dolinskaya et al , 2018). To keep the chain cold and safe, constant energy supply is required (Mackay et al , 2019), which, to date, is mostly ensured with fossil-centric energy services, such as diesel or kerosene generators (Grafham and Lahn, 2018; Thomas et al , 2021). Emergency settings, however, pose a volatile environment for securing energy access (Comes et al , 2018).…”

“…Emergency settings, however, pose a volatile environment for securing energy access (Comes et al , 2018). Energy services are hampered by a range of disturbances, including scarce grid connections, irregular power supply and shortage of fuel to power cold chain equipment (Comes et al , 2018; Grafham and Lahn, 2018; Babatunde et al , 2020). In spite of established processes, fossil fuel-centric energy services, thus, come with many flaws.…”

“…HMCCs depend heavily on their supporting energy services, of which access is often limited in disaster settings (Grafham and Lahn, 2018). As a concept, energy service can be ambiguous (Halldórsson and Kovács, 2010; Fell, 2017), and the peer-reviewed work and understanding on humanitarian energy is divergent and shallow to date (Thomas et al , 2021; Rosenberg-Jansen, 2022).…”

“…During emergency humanitarian aid operations, humanitarian medical cold chain (HMCC) items are among the most critical supplies delivered (Comes et al , 2018; Dolinskaya et al , 2018). In disaster situations, the reliability of energy services supporting HMCCs is critical because access to energy services becomes more erratic or scarce and the cold chain infrastructure is limited, if it exists at all (Comes et al , 2018; Grafham and Lahn, 2018; Babatunde et al , 2020). To address this, HOs often follow manuals and guidelines to design an efficient HMCC.…”

“…To address this, HOs often follow manuals and guidelines to design an efficient HMCC. To date, these continue to favour fossil fuel-centric energy services, despite them being environmentally unsustainable (Grafham and Lahn, 2018), rigid (UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund, 2022), unreliable (Grafham and Lahn, 2018; UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund, 2022) and expensive (Dolinskaya et al , 2018; Jusu et al , 2018).…”