Heat, Light and Power for Refugees :: Saving Lives, Reducing Costs
Chatham House Report for the Moving Energy Initiative
Glada Lahn and Owen Grafham
The Royal Institute of International Affairs, November 2015 :: 69 pages
Pdf: http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/hjwiCccQzeCTrGfICidafWBVLwrN

Foreward by Kofi Annan
There are now 60 million forcibly displaced people on our planet – more than the population of Australia and Canada combined. They include refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

This numbing figure is likely to increase further unless concerted action is taken to address the root causes of violent conflict. At a time when the humanitarian system is overstretched and underfunded, nothing could be more urgent.

In the meantime, the imperative is to find humane, creative and cost-effective ways to respond to the needs of so many individuals, most of whom are women and children.
Improving access to clean, safe and sustainable energy offers a promising way forward.

Everybody needs energy services for light, heat, cooling, communication and mobility. However, as the MEI highlights, the costs of energy access and provision are unnecessarily high, whether measured in terms of finance, the environment, health or security.

Entrepreneurship and amazing advances in technology are not being used systematically to respond to the needs of uprooted people or the communities that host them.
Getting this right could yield significant benefits for humanitarian organizations, host authorities and governments and above all for the livelihoods and ignity of the forcibly displaced.

.
Executive Summary [initial text]
Displacement of people as a result of conflict is not a new phenomenon – but today it represents an unprecedented global challenge. The gap between the needs of growing
numbers of displaced people and the resources and political will to meet their needs is widening. For example, voluntary contributions met less than half the $3.05 billion increase in the UNHCR’s funding requirement between 2009 and 2013.

Energy is one critical area which illustrates this problem but also offers potential for practical redress. Energy services are essential for basic human protection and dignity, two of the core ethical aims of humanitarian assistance. Energy services provide cooking, lighting, heating and clean water, and underpin all but the most rudimentary income-earning activities. Yet millions of displaced people lack access to clean, safe and secure energy services, in part because funding for such services is inadequate. The lack of reliable data on energy use in the humanitarian field shows that it is a neglected area. But the evidence amassed in the course of this project reveals a huge opportunity to provide better and more sustainable energy services.

Drawing on open-source data, interviews and field surveys, this report offers the first global overview of the state of energy use among almost 60 million people forcibly displaced by conflict. It considers the mounting financial and human costs of their current methods of obtaining energy, and assesses the economic, environmental and human case for change…