Eurelectric and UNHCR announce partnership to offer sustainable and clean energy to refugees

EURELECTRIC, the European electricity association and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today announced a partnership to help provide reliable, sustainable and clean energy for refugees, as part of their global efforts to tackle climate change.

“Improving access to clean electricity means bringing energy independence and security to vulnerable refugees, while also providing an important tool in the battle against climate change and global poverty,” said Kristian Ruby, EURELECTRIC Secretary General.

“The lack of energy is a major challenge in many refugee operations around the world. Our partnership with EURELECTRIC will bring some critical expertise to help provide sustainable and environmentally friendly power solutions for refugees, with a very positive and concrete impact on their daily life,” said Andrew Harper, Director of the Division of Programme Support and Management at UNHCR.

“Lighting significantly improves safety and creates opportunities for refugees to live with greater dignity. This partnership will also create important opportunities for the refugee and local communities through knowledge transfer. This is key to guarantee that the renewable technology used on the ground can be sustained on the long run,” he added.

Energy needs in refugee settings are massive and require innovative renewable technologies for lighting, power and livelihood. In the midst of responding to humanitarian crises, access to safe, reliable and clean energy for displaced people can be difficult to achieve. Accordingly to UNHCR, 65.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced in 2016. Some 22.5 million of them are refugees who were forced to flee their home country due to war or persecution and who are often directly exposed to the effects of climate change.

Link to Press Release.