Mind the Gap Please! – Contrasting Renewable Energy Investment Strategies between the World Bank and Poor Customers in Developing Countries

Wong, Sam (2012) Mind the Gap Please! – Contrasting Renewable Energy Investment Strategies between the World Bank and Poor Customers in Developing Countries. In: Advanced Analytics for Green and Sustainable Economic Development: Supply Chain Models and Financial Technologies. IGI Global,New York, pp. 50-63.

Text mind the gap please - world bank renewable energy (only 3 pages).pdf - Unspecified Access to this file is embargoed until Unspecified. Download (171kB)

Abstract

This chapter scrutinises the World Bank’s nine guiding principles for investment strategies on renewable energy in developing countries. Drawing on two World Bank-funded solar lighting projects in Bangladesh and India as examples, it demonstrates a wide gap in investment strategies between the Bank and local people. It suggests that a rigid distinction of renewable and non-renewable options risks restricting poor people to adopt an energy-mix approach to cope with poverty. The economic assumptions of the strategic choice for renewable energy investment pay inadequate attention to the cultural norms that shape people’s preferences for energy sharing. A lack of participation of NGOs and local communities in shaping the Bank’s investment strategies also undermines the effectiveness of its renewable energy policies in the long term. This chapter suggests that the World Bank re-conceptualises the complex relationships between energy and poverty and seeks a better understanding of local people’s daily energy consumption practices.

Item Type:	Book Section
Subjects:	?? G1 ??
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	30 Mar 2015 08:25
Last Modified:	17 Dec 2022 01:07
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/2009325