Energy for Growth Hub
Impact Story May 31, 2023

The Modern Energy Minimum Directs Billions in New Energy Financing and Raises Global Ambitions

Better Metrics and Data

Bottom Line Impact

No country has reached high-income status without energy sufficient to power its businesses, industry, hospitals, and homes. The Hub designed a new electricity consumption threshold, the Modern Energy Minimum (MEM), to define the amount of power an economy needs to create jobs, raise incomes, and expand economic opportunity. The MEM is defined as 1,000 kWh per person per year, including power used at home and in the wider economy. Today, our Modern Energy Minimum is helping direct billions of dollars in new investment through the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and has been endorsed by African energy ministers as a core principle of a just energy transition.

Why It Matters

What gets measured gets done. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) calls for universal access to “affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy.” But the primary definition of ‘access’ (just 50-100 kWh per person per year) is too low to power economic growth and too narrow to capture electricity used outside the home. Power to run a few lightbulbs or to charge a mobile phone is a vital first step that everyone deserves. But it’s not nearly enough. The spirit of SDG7 requires power for business, industry, hospitals, and homes at a level that can create jobs, raise incomes, and expand opportunity. Adopting the Modern Energy Minimum as the next step in the fight against energy poverty will raise global ambitions and deliver more meaningful development outcomes.

What We Did

  • Designed and proposed the Modern Energy Minimum. The Rockefeller Foundation shared our belief that aiming higher could reduce poverty and boost livelihoods. Working closely with the Foundation, Todd Moss convened a group of leading scholars to design a new threshold of 1,000 kWh per person, consumed at home and in the wider economy. The new metric reflects the level of electricity consumption needed to drive economic growth.
  • Launched the Modern Energy Minimum as a new metric to complement SDG 7. We released the metric in January 2021 with a 4-page summary, a 15-page report, and an explainer video.
  • Socialized the metric with key allies and practitioners. In addition to sharing the idea with dozens of policymakers, funders, and advocates in one-on-one meetings, events, and across our social media, we:
    • Presented the Modern Energy Minimum at the G20 Webinar Series “Achieving Global Energy Access Goals in the Decade of Action.”
    • Hosted Ashvin Dayal, senior vice president of power and climate at the Rockefeller Foundation, on our High Energy Planet podcast about the power of philanthropy to raise global energy ambitions.
    • Promoted the Modern Energy Minimum through the Brookings Institution’s 17 Rooms initiative  to inform the next round of the SDGs.
    • Briefed African leaders at the Sustainable Energy for All Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.
    • Created a short video explaining what 1,000 kWh actually means for real people.

First Big Win: The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet makes the Modern Energy Minimum part of its core messaging and investment criteria.

The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) launched in 2021 using our Modern Energy Minimum to direct more than $10 billion of major new energy finance investments from private philanthropy, government, local entrepreneurs, and the private sector. Countries below the 1,000 kWh Modern Energy Minimum are eligible for investments. The threshold is also a core part of GEAPP’s impact monitoring.

Second Big Win: 10 African ministers endorse the Modern Energy Minimum as the new metric for a just, equitable energy transition.

In May 2022, ministers and high-level representatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, and Zimbabwe met in Kigali, Rwanda, to establish seven principles for a just and equitable energy transition in Africa. The third principle in their official communique reads: “Pursue a modern energy minimum of 1,000 kWh per capita consumption.” While communiques are aspirational, it’s a clear signal that governments are officially embracing bolder energy goals.

Key Partners

  • Our major champions, including Ashvin Dayal, Senior Vice President for Power at the Rockefeller Foundation, and Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO of Sustainable Energy for All.
  • Members of the working group, including Morgan Bazilian (Colorado School of Mines), Moussa Blimpo (University of Toronto), Lauren Culver (World Bank), Meera Mahadavan (UC-Irvine), Vijay Modi (Columbia), Bob Muhwezi (UMass-Amherst), Rose Mutiso (Energy for Growth Hub), Varun Sivaram (Columbia), Jay Taneja (UMass-Amherst), Mark Thurber (Stanford University), Johannes Urpelainen (Johns Hopkins SAIS), and Michael Webber (UT-Austin).

Learn more about the Modern Energy Minimum.

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