Providing access to energy
Powering progress
Our ambition, by 2030, is to provide reliable electricity to 100 million people in emerging markets who do not yet have it.
Investing in energy access
Our energy access team is working to deliver our ambition by improving the reliability of existing power supply to on-grid customers and providing power to off-grid customers and communities who do not yet have it. We are seeking strategic partnerships with governments, utilities, developers, banks, and investors to address local challenges and opportunities, and progress towards achieving our ambition to power emerging markets.
In 2021, Shell’s commitment was registered in the UN Energy Compacts, a collection of voluntary commitments from member states and companies, governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and others, with the specific actions they will take to advance progress on UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 (access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all) and net-zero emissions.
Read more about our commercial energy access business at www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/new-energies/energy-access.
Social programmes
Separate to our commercial ambition, we invest in social programmes that benefit communities where we work. Through these voluntary initiatives, we work with partner organisations to help individuals and communities access reliable electricity to improve lives and generate greater economic opportunity.
In 2021, we continued to develop programmes to improve access to energy in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Pakistan and South Africa. COVID-19 continued to impede the delivery of access to energy projects in many locations – primarily due to restrictions on movement within and between countries.
To understand the impact of our projects, we commissioned an evaluation of seven of our access to energy projects in Canada, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania. A key finding of the evaluation was that 74% of participants felt their quality of life was improved. We have also identified several areas where we need to do better, such as an improved feedback mechanism for communities.
Read more about how our social investment programmes help to increase access to energy at www.shell.com/sustainability/communities/access-to-energy.
