Poor People’s Energy Outlook 2012

People living without energy are denied the chance to work their way out of poverty. This truth lies at the heart of the Poor people’s energy outlook (PPEO) 2012 which analyses the different types of energy services that poor people need to earn a living. The report argues that where poor people have the sustainable energy access needed to grow enterprises and earn a living it becomes possible to escape the vicious cycle of poverty.

The 2010 report introduced the idea of Total Energy Access and established a set of indicators and minimum standards for measuring progress towards this. Following consultation with peers in the energy access sector, the PPEO 2012 builds upon and refines these standards to distinguish between energy for the household, energy for enterprises, and energy for community services, to better understand these differing, but sometimes overlapping, needs.

For poor people to have greater access to energy services and appliances, a wide range of people and organisations have a role to play. In order to measure and understand how these all fit together, Practical Action proposes using an Energy Access Ecosystems Index. The Index was designed to help understand the factors that influence change such as policy and finance. It proposes a set of 12 indicators that make it possible to measure any given countries progress towards Total Energy Access.