Giving Compass' Take:

· The Rockefeller Foundation explains how investing in clean and renewable power sourcing can help create new jobs and boosting the economy. 

· How can donors support the expansion of clean energy around the world? 

· Check out this article from The Rockefeller Foundation about access to clean energy.

As world leaders gathered last week at the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid to debate greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and discuss climate action plans, The Rockefeller Foundation and Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power company, were building the first of 10,000 renewable-powered mini-grids. Through their new enterprise, TP Renewable Microgrid (TPRMG), 25 million Indians will get access to reliable, renewable electricity. TPRMG will also reduce carbon emissions by 1 million tons annually, and the amount of diesel burned by 57 million liters per year.

As we approach 2020 and the final decade to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, recent work by the Foundation has demonstrated the primacy of electricity as a driver of economic growth and major development outcomes such as health and livelihoods. Since 2016, the Foundation’s Smart Power India (SPI) initiative has brought electricity to 220 villages through decentralized renewable energy mini-grids, connecting approximately 15,000 homes and 8,000 local enterprises across the Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand. Notably included among these are a significant number of enterprises that serve a public good, including healthcare, education, water purification and agricultural processing businesses, which have been created or scaled-up thanks to power from mini-grids.

Read the full article about power for the planet by Pariphan Uawithya and Shawna Hoffman at The Rockefeller Foundation.