Shell Foundation and Dutch development bank FMO have signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to cooperate in the fields of access to energy in Sub-Saharan Africa and India. This will include investment in financial institutions with specific goals to increase access to finance, reduce inequality and promote green financing and agribusiness. SF Director Sam Parker…
By Simon Meier Over the past years, pay-as-you-go solar companies have allowed hundreds of thousands of households in developing countries to benefit from access to electricity. However, with 1.2 billion people still living outside the reach of the grid, a step change is needed to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of universal access to…
When Shell Foundation was created in 2000, we set out to test a theory, largely unproven at the time, that market forces could be directed to deliver lasting socio-economic, health and environmental value to low-income communities – and that eradicating many of the world’s most entrenched development challenges could be financed predominantly from private capital.…
Nearly two billion people lack access to reliable and affordable modern energy – severely constraining their health, education and earning potential. Of this group, 60% live entirely without electricity for cooking, lighting and heating at home, for community services, or for improving the productivity of small businesses and farms. Accelerating Access to Energy outlines our…
We have learned a lot about trying to achieve scale and sustainability over the past decade. We set about doing this in ways that were new at the time by pioneering an enterprise-based approach. We concentrated our efforts on tackling social and environmental issues in which the energy industry has a particular responsibility. We also…
In 2005 the confluence of advocacy, political serendipity and natural disaster has rapidly pushed the plight of the impoverished up the agenda of the wealthy as never before. The sharpness of the challenge being thrown down on behalf of the poor and the pressure on the rich to take action in response is unprecedented, as…