The Guardian, London, UK — 10 December, 2010
As ministers discuss the technicalities of carbon emissions at the Cancún climate change conference, 1.5 billion people in poorer countries still have no access to electricity. We need to address this injustice
While the discussions on strategies to reduce global emissions rage on in Cancún, too many of the world’s poorest people continue to live without adequate access to energy.
It’s clear that for people living in poverty, energy access is absolutely essential for a better life. The services provided by energy are needed in so many ways: cooking meals, lighting, refrigeration of food and medical supplies, and for earning a living – the list goes on. And yet, too few leaders and decision-makers are concerned enough to act on the issue.
Using traditional forms of energy is a major burden – collecting firewood for cooking can take some women in Ethiopia three hours a day on average, and inhaling the smoke from cooking on open fires causes many health problems. A staggering 1.4 million people die each year as a result of inhaling smoke from traditional stoves.
For people living in poverty, energy access is crucial, as the experiences of people like Rosa, a Turkana woman living in the Kakuma refugee camp in north western Kenya, make abundantly clear: “For me, getting energy for cooking and lighting is a daily worry. It’s so hard to find firewood that I cook for my family only once a day, in the evening. The fire provides the light for cooking and eating a meal with my children. After eating is bedtime.”
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