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Access to energy

News, comment and features on access to energy, energy poverty and fuel poverty in the developing world

May 2026

  • A classic car drives past a pile of burning rubbish in a smoke-filled street

    Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
    ‘An epidemic of flies, rats, waste and foul odours’: health fears in Cuba as US oil blockade halts rubbish collection

    As Trump ramps up pressure by cutting off fuel to the island, Havana’s refuse is rarely collected, forcing residents to burn it in the streets despite the pollution

April 2026

  • People walking along a dark city street lit up only by car headlights. Barely any windows have lights on

    Opinion
    Cuba is running out of time. We need fuel now to save lives

    Francisco Pichón
  • Three young boys in a developing country

    Iran war could plunge 32 million into poverty, says United Nations

March 2026

  • Workers change the price of fuel at a petrol station

    Fuel rations and no air con: south-east Asian nations race to conserve energy

    Governments in countries heavily reliant on Middle Eastern oil introduce measures to shield public from soaring costs

February 2026

  • A team of installers lifts solar panels on to the roof of a building in the Guanabacoa neighborhood of Havana

    Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
    US sanctions, power cuts, climate crisis: why Cuba is betting on renewables

    With Trump blocking Venezuelan oil imports and old power plants breaking down, the island – with Chinese help – is turning to solar and wind to bolster its fragile energy system

January 2026

  • A man sits at a table in a room with mostly empty shelves

    Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
    ‘History will tell’: as US pressure grows, Cuba edges closer to collapse amid mass exodus

    Disillusioned with the revolution after 68 years of US sanctions and a shattered economy, one in four Cubans have left in four years. Can the regime, and country, survive the engulfing ‘polycrisis’?

November 2025

  • A guanaco, which resembles a llama, stands on grassland with a large body of water and mountains in the background

    Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
    ‘Will it change the weather? Will wildlife cope?’: Europe rushes to build energy megaprojects in Chile

    The country’s government is upbeat about the economic prospects of the growing number of windfarms, solar parks and industrial complexes but others warn of ‘green colonialism’

September 2025

  • Technicians install solar panels on a factory roof in Nairobi, Kenya.

    Hopes rise for green economy boom at Africa Climate Summit

    Renewables are thriving, with Africa breaking solar energy records – but action is needed to plug financing gap

July 2025

  • Destroyed buildings in Gaza, with electricity pylons in the foreground

    Recognised Palestinian state could develop disputed gas resources, expert says

    The Palestinian Authority’s ability to use the Gaza Marine field could leave them less dependent on aid

June 2025

  • Aerial view of town in valley

    Design a better world
    Puerto Rico’s solar-powered village – in pictures

    For years, Puerto Ricans have faced high electricity costs and regular blackouts. The town of Adjuntas, in the central mountains, boasts the island’s first community-owned solar microgrid
    Gallery13

May 2025

  • A smiling middle-aged man in a bow tie and navy suit

    ‘I don’t want freebies’: outgoing AfDB head on why investment, not aid, will shape Africa’s future

  • A long narrow boat on a wide brown river bordered by jungle

    Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
    ‘A future on our terms’: how community energy is lighting up Latin America

April 2025

  • At Amarah’s Al-Sadr hospital, medical staff, patients and their families struggle as busy wards overheat and tempers fray.

    Faintings, blackouts and violence: Iraq’s scorching emergency – in pictures

    The country’s average temperature has risen by 0.48C a decade from 2000. Last August, photographer Susan Schulman visited Baghdad and Amarah, to capture the impact of extreme weather on everyday lives
    Gallery19

March 2025

  • Workers adjust the machinery of a data centre inaugurated in Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The investment is 100m reais (£13m) for the first phase. The total investment is over 400m reais (£52m). Credits: Jeff Botega

    Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
    Power struggle: will Brazil’s booming datacentre industry leave ordinary people in the dark?

    While millions live with regular blackouts and limited energy, plants are being built to satisfy the global demand for digital storage and processing – piling pressure on an already fragile system

January 2025

  • A woman holds a cable and a screwdriver

    ‘Solar Mamas empower our people by giving them electricity’: the women lighting up Zanzibar

    Women with little to no formal education trained to become solar technicians, transforming villages and tackling patriarchal norms

November 2024

  • Children enjoy an IDA-funded play area in Beira, Mozambique. Africa is forecast to have the world’s largest, youngest workforce within 10 years.

    Opinion
    Multilateralism faces a toxic brew of debt, climate crisis and war. It’s time for a reboot

    Mo Ibrahim
  • CUENCA APAGONES Cuenca, Ecuador September 27, 2024 Empresa ElA ctrica Centrosur, which supplies the cantons of Azuay, Canar and Morona Santiago, announced the hours of the outages that extend until Sunday, September 29 These are six keys that explain the blackouts that Ecuador is experiencing photo Boris Romoleroux API SOI CUENCA APAGONES 81984c2264ca937a816f20d20f0b64b9 Copyright: xBORISxROMOLEROUXx<br>2Y722WE CUENCA APAGONES Cuenca, Ecuador September 27, 2024 Empresa ElA ctrica Centrosur, which supplies the cantons of Azuay, Canar and Morona Santiago, announced the hours of the outages that extend until Sunday, September 29 These are six keys that explain the blackouts that Ecuador is experiencing photo Boris Romoleroux API SOI CUENCA APAGONES 81984c2264ca937a816f20d20f0b64b9 Copyright: xBORISxROMOLEROUXx

    Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
    ‘I’m switched off’: frustration and fatigue as power cuts keep Ecuador in the dark

October 2024

  • People sit outdoors watching TV while others cook on a fire

    Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
    Solar power to the people: how the sun is bringing light – and TV – to Amazon villages

  • Gerry Foley

    Other lives
    Gerry Foley obituary

September 2024

  • An African woman carrying a hoe over her shoulder in a dry savannah landscape walks past four solar panels on poles

    Opinion
    The solar pump revolution could bring water to millions of Africans but it must be sustainable and fair

    Alan MacDonald
    Solar power could enable 400 million Africans without water to tap into groundwater aquifers. However, we must ensure smaller projects do not lose out in the rush for new technology
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