| Brief summary / introduction |
The World Bank Group (WBG) is in the process of implementing an Energy Renewal Strategy, which aims to bring increased focus in WBG interventions to the following key areas:
Impact of the WBG energy work on direct poverty alleviation:
- facilitating access to modern fuels and electricity
- reducing the cost and improving the quality of energy supplied to low-income households
- ensuring that energy subsidies are targeted at and reach the poor
- promoting energy efficient/less polluting end-use technologies for traditional fuels
- creating energy service enterprises
- supporting energy needed for social services (education, communication, health…)
Macro/fiscal stabilization:
- rationalizing energy taxes
- increasing the share of private financing in energy investment
- managing risks associated with contingent public liabilities
- closing loss-making coal mines and oil refineries and financing restructuring costs that fall on government budgets
- enhancing effective payment by all energy users to eliminate operating subsidies to state-owned enterprises
- improving procurement and marketing of imported and exported energy products
Governance and private sector development:
- creating objective, transparent, non-discriminatory regulatory mechanisms
- introducing and expanding competition and cross-border trade
- divesting assets to strategic investors and regulatory markets in a socially responsible and corruption-free way
- strengthening the voice of consumers and communities
- catalyzing private investments by liberalizing entry to energy markets
- strengthening local financial institutions to provide long-term financing for rural energy business
Environment sustainability:
- promoting clean transport fuels & switching to cleaner fuels in energy supply
- facilitating environmentally sustainable extraction, production, processing, transport and distribution of oil, gas & coal
- strengthening environmental management capacity, and regulatory and monitoring capacity in the energy sector
- removing market and regulatory barriers to renewables and energy efficiency investments for power and also biomass (e.g. improved cooking stoves for the poor)
- reducing gas flaring and facilitating carbon trading and joint investments to reduce GHG emissions
More information can be found on the World Bank Group"s (WBG) Energy Program website ( http://www.worldbank.org/energy), and in the attached document: "Topical Briefing to the World Bank Board of Directors on Energy". |
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