Engaging the Entire Humanitarian Clean Cooking System: Unlocking Institutional Scale

Engaging the Entire Humanitarian Clean Cooking System: Unlocking Institutional Scale

The vast majority of the 110 million forcibly displaced people on our planet do not have access to modern, reliable, and sustainable energy systems and services. Currently, energy access across the humanitarian system relies on diesel powered generators – yet, this is not sufficient. People are forced to take matters into their own hands relying on polluting, often unsustainably sourced, and unhealthy fuels for their heating, lighting, and cooking needs. Despite the cost of renewable energy technologies falling, the uptake of these “cleaner” solutions has been low across the humanitarian system, especially when considering clean cooking technologies at the institutional scale – this institutional scale may hold the key in unlocking new delivery and financing models. Taking an entire systems approach, this seminar will explore the state of the humanitarian energy sector, the role of clean cooking, and how the institutional scale may unlock more efficient and effective pathways to the completion of UN SDG7 – sustainable energy for all.

Ben is an energy expert engaged with critical elements of the energy transition across Asia and Africa in the Humanitarian and wider International Development sectors. He champions innovative and disruptive socio-technological ecosystems to enable the forcibly displaced, and other marginalised communities, to be the protagonists of their own energy futures.