While almost 92% of the world’s population now has basic access to electricity – an improvement since 2022 – over 666 million people remain without access, and the world is off track to reach universal access by 2030, according to the Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2025 released on Wednesday.

“Clean cooking access is progressing but below the rates of progress seen in the 2010s, as efforts remain hobbled by setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, following energy price shocks, and debt crises,” according to a media release from five bodies responsible for Social Development Goal (SDG) 7.

These are the International Energy Agency (IEA), International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Little to no change was observed in access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking between 2022 and 2023, with around 2.1 billion people dependent on polluting fuels such as firewood and charcoal for their cooking needs.

“If current trends continue, only 78% of the global population will have access to clean cooking by 2030,” the bodies note.

Eighteen of the 20 countries with the largest electricity access deficits in 2023 were in sub-Saharan Africa, and 85% of people without electricity access live in the region.

Four in five families are without access to clean cooking, and the number of people without clean cooking access in the region continues to grow at a rate of 14 million people yearly.

In contrast, Central and Southern Asia, with both regions made “significant strides towards universal electricity access, reducing their basic access gap from 414 million in 2010 to just 27 million in 2023”, the report notes.

IEA executive director Fatih Birol described the expansion of access to electricity and clean cooking as “disappointingly slow, especially in Africa”. 

Birol added that this is “contributing to millions of premature deaths each year linked to smoke inhalation, and is holding back development and education opportunities” and called for “greater investment in clean cooking and electricity supply”.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “the same pollutants that are poisoning our planet are also poisoning people, contributing to millions of deaths each year from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, particularly among the most vulnerable, including women and children”.

Lack of finance hobbles renewables

In 2022, almost 18% of energy came from renewable energy sources. But progress is unequal and insufficient to meet international climate and sustainable development goals. In addition, global efforts must address significant disparities. 

Least developed countries and sub-Saharan Africa had only 40 watts per capita in installed renewables capacity, compared to developed countries, which had over 1,100 watts installed.

On a more positive note, international financial flows to developing countries in support of clean energy increased by 27% from 2022 to reach $21.6 billion in 2023. 

But despite this increase, “only two regions in the world have seen real progress in the financial flows”, noted IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera.

A “lack of sufficient and affordable financing” is a key reason for regional inequalities and slow progress, the report notes.

World Bank vice-president for infrastructure Guangzhe Chen said that 12 African nations have launched national energy compacts, committing to “substantial reforms to lower costs of generation and transmission, and scale up distributed renewable energy solutions”.

Image Credits: Mission 300 Summit, World Bank.