TED Talks Daily - The missing piece of the clean energy transition | Sheila Ngozi Oparaocha

Episode Date: August 17, 2024

The clean energy transition has a major blind spot, says energy equity expert Sheila Ngozi Oparaocha: it ignores millions of people without access to energy. Highlighting grassroots women's organizations leading the charge towards universal access, she makes a powerful call to prioritize gender equality in energy policies — and to create a sustainable future where no one is left in the dark.

TED Audio Collective. You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. The effort to reach net zero emissions by 2050 is failing to acknowledge one key premise, that one in every three individuals on the globe doesn't have access to any form of modern energy to begin with. Energy equity expert Sheila Ngozi

Oparocha says this blind spot is a failure of diversity and inclusion, the call for an energy transition where no one is left behind. After the break. Support for this show comes from Airbnb. If you know me, you know I love staying in Airbnbs when I travel. They make my family feel most at home when we're away from home. As we settled down at our Airbnb during a recent vacation to Palm Springs, I pictured my own home sitting empty. Wouldn't it be smart and better put to use welcoming a family like mine by hosting it on Airbnb?

It feels like the practical thing to do, and with the extra income, I could save up for renovations to make the space even more inviting for ourselves and for future guests. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. Join RBC's John Stackhouse and Sonia Sinek from Creative Destruction Lab as they ask bold questions like, why is Canada lagging in AI adoption and how to catch up? Don't get left behind. Listen to Disruptors, the innovation era, and stay ahead of the game in this fast-changing world. Follow Disruptors on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. I want to tell you about a podcast I love called Search Engine, hosted by PJ Vogt. Each week, he and his team answer these perfect questions, the kind of questions that, when you ask them at a dinner party, completely derail conversation. Questions about business, tech, and society, like is everyone pretending to understand inflation? Why don't we have flying cars yet? And what does it feel like to believe in God? If you find this world bewildering, but also sometimes enjoy being bewildered by it, check out Search Engine with PJ Vogt, available now wherever you get your podcasts.

And now, our TED Talk of the day. Today, I'm honored to introduce you to Randa. Randa is a remarkable woman that I have had the privilege of getting to know. Randa is from Tambacunda, which is a rural town in Senegal. Like me, Randa is a mother and has also been raised on a farm. Unlike me, and I suspect unlike all of you, Randa does not take her energy supply for granted. When Randa comes home after a hard day's work, she does not have the luxury of flipping a switch to turn the lights on in her house.

The stove that Randa uses to cook meals for her family has not been seamlessly integrated into the design of her kitchen. Instead, Randa spends up to 10 hours every week collecting firewood just to meet the basic needs of her family. When Randa and I were sharing stories about our children, I was disheartened to hear from her that the clinic at which she delivered her four daughters and her two sons had no electricity, and the midwife that attended to her had to use a kerosene lamp during her deliveries.

Now, sadly, Randa's story is not unique. Randa's story mirrors the struggles of 2.4 billion people worldwide that are deprived of access to electricity and to clean cooking fuels. This is what we refer to as energy poverty. Energy poverty results in the deaths of 3.2 million people every single year due to diseases caused by exposure to indoor air pollution that disproportionately impacts women and children. Now, what is also tragic is that after my 23 years

of engagement in intergovernmental processes at the United Nations, I continue to battle with the fact that when we are not in the room, the harsh realities of women's energy poverty are simply not prioritized to the extent that they should be in the global political dialogue on sustainable development and on climate change. The mainstream narrative envisions a transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2050,

largely driven by the deployment of large-scale renewable energy. This assumes that people already have access to energy and simply need to shift to cleaner and more sustainable alternatives. What it fails to acknowledge is that one in every three individuals on our planet do not have access to any form of modern energy. So the key challenge that we have and the key question is why is it that we've failed to prioritize

women's energy poverty in developing countries and failed to recognize it for the global crisis that it is? This is a question and this is an issue that I have been grappling with for a long time. And I've come to the realization that one of the key reasons is that the energy sector is male-dominated and marginally representative of diverse and inclusive perspectives.

Now, why do I say this? Research from the International Energy Agency shows us that women account for only 15 percent, only 15 percent of the workforce in the energy sector. And when it comes to leadership positions, women such as myself, that is women of color, are few and far between. We also know that gender-blind energy policies

also contribute to the failure of the prevailing narrative to recognize that it's women like Rhonda that are the cornerstones and the agents of change to abolishing energy poverty. And now, back to the episode. But here's the good news. A revolution is already underway. And this is a revolution that has been spearheaded

by women grassroots organizations. These are women grassroots organizations that are being disruptive and are stepping up to lead the way from the current crisis to a sustainable energy future that is more possible and even closer than many of us realize. These women grassroots organizations embrace an approach

that is referred to as leaving no one behind, that prioritizes universal access to reliable, affordable, sustainable energy as essential for livelihoods, for adaptation to climate change, and for building resilience. Now, what does this mean in practice? These initiatives are empowering women smallholder farmers like Rhonda

with decentralized renewable energy technologies. These are technologies such as solar water pumps, mini grids, clean cooking technologies that are equipping millions of women that, by the way, produce 80 percent of the food in developing countries with clean energy to irrigate their crops, to process their farm produce, to power agriculture equipment, while at the same time enabling them to adapt to climate change crises, such as water shortages, and also reduce their reliance on expensive diesel generators. Now, I'm immensely proud to say and to share with you that only in less than 10 years,

an example of a global economy that is so different from what we've seen in the past Now, I'm immensely proud to say and to share with you that only in less than 10 years, an example of three women-led organizations, that is, NHEA and my organizations, SolarCity, Frontier Markets, have supported a cohort of 42,000 women entrepreneurs that are operating in underserved markets where commercial distribution networks are inadequate. These women entrepreneurs

have already fueled their local economies in their communities by providing renewable energy services to over 21 million consumers. Now, this is testament to the real-time impact and the tangible results that are achievable when women organizations take the lead. For us at Energia, addressing this crisis and this challenge

goes beyond providing energy services. A game-changer for us has been convening the grassroots women that we collaborate with into associations. One rural woman standing alone has limited opportunity to change policies. But forming a group of 200 women, who by the way are voters, leverages their collective agency to engage in the former economy,

but also to be present in energy decision-making spaces that were previously closed to them. Together, this group of women can articulate their own issues. They can articulate their own demands. They can advocate for themselves. And they can even influence the political landscape, fostering national policies and regulations that champion gender equality. Now, in order to scale up these transformative impacts,

new pathways of financial support that direct intentional investments, intentional investments to grassroots women organizations are absolutely necessary. It is a scandal that currently only 6% of climate finance for energy goes to address energy poverty. I'm going to pause there and let that sink in.

Only 6% of climate finance goes to address this global crisis of energy poverty. And a mere 9% of climate sector development finance is tagged for gender equality. Is this really the best that we can do to engage women in the energy sector? My response is a clear no. Now, I'd like to ask you to join me and imagine with me a transformative energy transition

that measures success not only by the supply of energy units, but rather by the significant strides that we make on gender equality and social justice. The energy future that we should all be moving towards is one that calls us to be collectively responsible for ending energy poverty. It is about providing women from developing countries with the opportunities to claim their power

as leaders, as drivers of a just and inclusive energy transition. For me, the call to action is clear. Let us all be the architects of change, shaping a future where no one is left in the dark and where women are in the forefront of a brighter, more sustainable world. Thank you. Support for this show comes from Airbnb.

If you know me, you know I love staying in Airbnbs when I travel. They make my family feel most at home when we're away from home. As we settled down at our Airbnb during a recent vacation to Palm Springs, I pictured my own home sitting empty. Wouldn't it be smart and better put to use welcoming a family like mine by hosting it on Airbnb? It feels like the practical thing to do, and with the extra income, I could save up for renovations to make the space even more inviting

for ourselves and for future guests. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. That was Sheila Ngozi Oparocha from TED Women in 2023. If you're curious about TED's curation, find out more at TED.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green,

Autumn Thompson, and Alejandra Salazar. It was mixed by Christopher Faisy-Bogan. Additional support from Emma Taubner, Daniela Balarezo, and Will Hennessey. I'm Elise Hugh. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening. Looking for a fun challenge to share with your friends and family?

TED now has games designed to keep your mind sharp while having fun. Visit TED.com slash games to explore the joy and wonder of TED Games.