Historical archive

Energy+ approach

Historical archive

Published under: Stoltenberg's 2nd Government

Publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Energy+ will support efforts to achieve universal access to sustainable energy services and to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in developing countries. Energy+ will do that by scaling up the use of renewable energy (RE) and improved energy efficiency (EE). Energy+ will provide financial support to developing countries based on the action they take and the results they achieve. Official development assistance (ODA) is unsufficient to cover the investment needed. Private and commercial investments are necessary. Energy+ will use ODA to leverage private and commercial investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency programs and projects.

There are three Energy+ design principles:

  • Sectoral approach,  country-driven or country owned
  • Payment by results achieved
  • Leverage private and commercial investments,  using public  funding to risk mitigation, capacity building, improved legislation, sector reforms, etc.

Energy+ invites donor partners to cooperate on the country level and take use of existing programs to develop concerted efforts. Energy+ will apply best practise national and international social and environmental standards.

Phased approach

In phase one, readiness, Energy+ will support development of low-carbon and energy sector strategies, and strengthen technical and institutional capacity to develop policy measures to incentivize private and commercial sector investment.

In phase two, implementation, Energy+ will continue to support institutional capacity building, the implementation of policy and legal reforms, and the establishment of measuring, reporting and verification systems, and will support policy measures to leverage private and commercial investments.

In phase three, scaling up, Energy+ will provide payment by results to developing partner countries. The payment will be based on results achieved in terms of increased access to sustainable energy services and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by implementation of renewable energy and energy efficiency.