Global Leadership Council Drives Action to Reduce the Cost of Renewable Energy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

April 18, 2023 – Today, the Global Leadership Council (GLC) of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) committed to dramatically reduce the cost of renewable energy technologies focusing on battery storage systems and off-grid tech aggregation. This high-level coalition of global leaders is co-chaired by Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway, and Dr. Rajiv Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. Members include national development banks, NGOs, corporate executives, and government representatives. All members of the GLC are aligning the efforts of their institutions to tackle the most pressing climate issues in the years ahead.    

Transitioning to clean energy in the face of a changing climate and a warming planet is a matter of life and death. While all of us will feel the impact of climate change, as many as 3.6 billion people, mostly in low-and-middle-income countries, are highly vulnerable to its effects. Solving the energy challenge is at the heart of tackling climate change and enabling humanity to build a sustainable, strong future for everyone, even the hardest to reach. 

There is a pathway to ending this crisis and building lasting, positive change. Renewable energy technologies can increase access to energy for hundreds of millions of people, providing better jobs, better health, better food, better education, and sustainable economic growth – all while reducing carbon emissions.

In 2023, the GLC will focus on rapid actions to drive down costs, beginning with two near-term priorities: Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and Off-Grid Tech Aggregation for renewable technologies. The GLC commits to:  

Launching an ambitious new BESS Consortium to rapidly scale deployment of grid-tied storage in low-and-middle-income countries. This will include:

• Securing commitments from a coalition of 10+ ‘first-mover’ governments and utilities to deploy battery storage on their grids.  
• Confirming and negotiating commitments from BESS suppliers. 
• Structuring a large global purchasing mechanism.  

Building a large-scale Off-Grid Tech Aggregation initiative to expand and secure supply and affordability for distributed renewable systems. This will include:

• Coordinating common procurement across GLC member institutions. 
• Solidifying demand from a broad network of developers and buyers.  
• Facilitating large-scale purchases of critical components for distributed renewable energy systems, such as batteries, solar panels, and inverters.   

Progress on these commitments will be shared during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 78) in September and the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in December.

The Global Leadership Council was established in 2022 to galvanize collective action on a more ambitious and inclusive global renewable energy agenda and ensure the philanthropic capital and aligned co-investments of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) are deployed for optimal impact.  

For further information on the GLC and its members please see here.