The Rockefeller Foundation has released a new report detailing an "8,700 terawatt-hour (TWh) Green Power Gap" across 72 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. These nations, with a combined population of 3.8 billion people, need to generate 8,700 TWh of clean energy by 2050—about twice the annual electricity production of the United States—to transition from outdated, costly, and inefficient power systems to a future of energy abundance. The report, The Green Power Gap: Achieving an Energy Abundant Future for Everyone, highlights a crucial opportunity and proposes four strategic pathways to bridge this gap.
"The fate of 3.8 billion people's lives and the planet itself will depend on whether we can close the Green Power Gap", said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. "History makes clear that people and countries will pursue opportunity regardless of the climate consequences. The only way to achieve the world's climate goals is scaling solutions and mobilizing the capital needed to ensure 3.8 billion people have enough clean electricity to lift up their lives and livelihoods".
The report analyzes 72 countries, including 68 that fall below the Modern Energy Minimum (MEM)—defined as having an average annual per capita usage of less than 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). This level of energy use is crucial for alleviating poverty, generating jobs, and fostering economic growth. Additionally, the report includes four countries that exceed the MEM threshold but are still considered "energy-poor" due to significant portions of their populations living well below this level. Among these 72 countries, only eight are in Latin America and the Caribbean (Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua) and the Middle East (Syria and Yemen), while Africa is home to 44 of them and Asia has 20.