VIEWPOINT: ‘Why Diversity and access to Energy Matters.’ By Damilola Ogunbiyi

Diversity in the energy sector is key if we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whose deadline is only 7 years away. And women are critical players. Their contribution, therefore, must be recognized and their voices and opinions heard, writes Damilola Ogunbiyi (pictured) – CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy.

Access to energy improves lives in many ways. It supports the effective delivery of education, quality healthcare, enhanced agricultural productivity, and new economic opportunities. When this access comes from clean energy it has additional benefits of jobs for local communities, reduced drudgery, and improved local and indoor air quality.

Evidence also shows that women are catalysts for development when they have access to energy, and they experience improved quality of life when clean energy solutions are made available to them. Yet too often, the energy sector fails to adequately include and address the needs of women as energy users, decision-makers, and agents of change in the energy transition.

Research has shown that energy infrastructure tends to reach women last, yet the lack of access to modern energy affects women and children disproportionately. For example, household air pollution leads to a staggering 3.8 million premature deaths each year – nearly half of all air pollution-related deaths – 60 percent of which are women and children. This is driven by a lack of access to clean technologies and fuels for cooking.

Evidence also shows that women are catalysts for development when they have access to energy, and they experience improved quality of life when clean energy solutions are made available to them.

In rural communities in Africa, women are primarily responsible for collecting firewood for cooking and heating, their time is often considered a free resource, and no value is placed on the physical risk they face. They spend up to 18 hours a week doing so and are particularly vulnerable to injuries, attacks by wild animals, and sexual violence. Energy access is therefore critical for women’s safety and their well-being.

A rapid shift to clean energy is an essential part of the global action needed to address climate-related risks to health, food and water security, environmental balance, and economic growth. This energy transition is particularly important for women to succeed, giving them access to energy offers them access to income-generating activities, that could make them micro and small-scale entrepreneurs.

Women’s participation in the energy transition

Women should not just be viewed as a special interest group and as last-mile beneficiaries. They are mainstream consumers, producers, and innovators. They have the potential to be decision-makers across the energy sector., and without their involvement, the energy transition risks failing.

However, huge gaps remain in ensuring women’s meaningful participation in energy planning and policy-making processes with women being largely underrepresented in leadership positions – from corporate to the diplomatic level – at international negotiations. Ernst and Young note that women represent just 6% of board executives and 17% of board members in power and utility companies. The lack of women’s participation in positions of leadership is a key underlying factor that continues to perpetuate gender inequalities in the global efforts to decarbonize energy systems.

Women represent 32% of full-time employees in the renewable energy sector and only 22% in the energy sector overall; this is in comparison to 48% of women workers in the global labour force. This is worrying as scientific research in other sectors has found that a diversified workforce delivers better results, not only in terms of increased creativity and innovation potential but also related to better decision-making and greater profits.

The lack of women’s participation in positions of leadership is a key underlying factor that continues to perpetuate gender inequalities in the global efforts to decarbonize energy systems.

What are the practical ways of involving women in this transition

The energy transition, however, presents unprecedented opportunities for women. According to IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency), the global drive for energy transition will increase the number of jobs in renewable energy to 38.2 million by 2030.

We therefore must grow the proportion of women in the clean energy sector to take advantage of the transition and its livelihood transformation potential.

So, what can we do?

We must do more to identify and address the barriers preventing women from entering and thriving in the sector. As a starting point, more women should be encouraged to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) courses and careers. Moreover, programmes that provide technical training, skills development, and mentorship to those that are starting out in the sector must be scaled up.
Women play key roles in promoting and implementing new clean technologies, they are experienced entrepreneurs in energy-related enterprises. However, these women-led energy businesses lack customized financing; furthermore, appropriate training and support are urgently needed if these women-led and -owned MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) are to thrive.
Women must be involved in energy planning; as more Energy Transition Plans and Universal Integrated Energy Plans are developed globally the views of women should be incorporated, and this can be through public participation as well as the collection of gender-disaggregated data. This will help to adequately consider the full scope of the gendered impacts of energy transition policies and projects, as well as of women’s role in the development, design, adaptation, and use of renewable energy technologies.
Carbon finance is a potentially growing source of finance for clean cooking, whereby clean cookstove suppliers can use carbon finance to create a guaranteed source of revenue while protecting the health of millions of women and children who rely on biomass for cooking.
When governments develop new policies to champion the energy transition, they must ensure transparency and access to information, which will go a long way to enable women to participate at all levels of the energy transition. States should provide timely, sufficient, and objective data to the public, in accessible formats, and via appropriate channels, to ensure that its citizens are able to participate in the policy-making process as well as the monitoring of these policies once they come into force.
We can create even more jobs by ensuring that renewable energy manufacturing is undertaken by more countries in the Global South. It is possible to establish local supply chains and talent to ensure the socio-economic benefits of renewable energy accrue in countries across Africa.
Finally, we must challenge cultural and social norms, by strengthening the visibility of diverse women’s roles in energy and supporting initiatives that enable women to become agents of change through their participation in the renewable energy sector.

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