IRENA: Global energy advances clash with regional inequalities and financing challenges
- REDAÇÃO H2RADAR
- Jul 9
- 2 min read
The 2025 Energy Progress Report, released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), paints a ambivalent picture of the global energy transition. Although nearly 92% of the world's population now has basic access to electricity—an undeniable advance—the path to universal access remains uncertain. More than 666 million people remain marginalized, and the current rate of expansion is insufficient to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 by 2030. In a scenario pressured by legacies of the pandemic, energy shocks, and debt crises, the report issues a warning: without coordinated acceleration and strengthening of international financial flows, the energy transition risks deepening regional inequalities.
The Urgency of Decentralized Energy and Clean Cooking in Combating Energy Poverty
One of the report's central findings is the transformative role of decentralized energy solutions. In particular, mini-grids and isolated solar systems have demonstrated increasing effectiveness in reaching populations in remote rural areas, where traditional electrification models prove logistically unfeasible or economically unsustainable. Recent experience demonstrates that these technologies, in addition to being scalable and rapidly deployable, offer a realistic path to accelerating energy access in fragile regions, such as the interior of Sub-Saharan Africa, where 85% of the world's population lives without electricity.
The energy transition, however, is not limited to electricity. Access to clean cooking—a critical indicator of health and development—still progresses slowly. More than 2 billion people rely on fuels such as wood and charcoal for cooking, with serious consequences for health and the environment. The report highlights that solutions such as household biogas plants and the use of decentralized electricity for cooking have the potential to reverse this situation. However, this will require targeted investment in affordable technologies, especially in rural areas.
The most optimistic data comes from international financial flows supporting clean energy, which grew for the third consecutive year, reaching US$21.6 billion in 2023. Installed renewable capacity per capita also reached a new record in developing countries. However, the average of 341 watts per capita contrasts sharply with the 40 watts observed in Sub-Saharan Africa—a chasm that highlights the urgency of more inclusive financial mechanisms.
