To be successful, the energy transition will require a generational transition as well. New ideas, new leadership, and new opportunities depend on putting young people at the center of shaping the future of energy systems in Africa and Asia. The time for business-as-usual approaches is ending, as we take the first steps toward the next energy generation and a new legacy.

2021 is a critical year on many fronts: food systems, healthcare, economic recovery and job creation, climate action, and much more. Decentralized renewables will have a major role to play in all of them. In our annual energy access trends forecast, we consulted multiple sources and identified what are the market movers that will drive progress in energy access finance, technology, policy and capacity.

Vaccine cold chain only a first step Refrigation for vaccines is essential to achieve global equity in the fight against COVID, but to ensure universal health care requires service-based models, a standardized and affordable supply chain of off-grid medical devices, and much great inter-sectoral collaboration to power 10s of thousands of unelectrified clinics.

Electricity consumption is a misleading measure of energy poverty and SDG7 is significantly farther away than governments and donors currently think, according to a new IIASA framework that measures energy access based on appliance ownership. The framework also shows affordability is a greater barrier than previously thought.