Recommendation 2

HM Government Accepted

Partially Agree 12. We agree that energy access is a foundational enabler of sustainable development, essential to delivery of many other SDGs including health, humanitarian, water, food and climate targets. Co-benefits of expanding clean energy access also include protection of nature and forests, as well as green jobs and expanding climate resilience. No economy has grown, or country exited poverty, without expanding its use of energy. 13. Since 2022, the TEA platform has included a portfolio of energy R&D projects in the humanitarian and health sectors. This has resulted in additional linkages being built between energy access and the humanitarian and health sectors. The Ayrton Fund’s approach to Ayrton Challenges, linking interventions across multiple departments, programmes and sectors towards a common challenge goal, has also improved coherence and co-ordination. 14. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) published a review into UK support for energy transition in November 2025. The review included recommendations that proposed: a comprehensive strategy for energy transition, with improved coordination between departments; stronger mechanisms for allocating funding between multilateral and bilateral channels; a clearer use of partnerships and alliances; alongside stating objectives for leveraging additional finance and investment. Overall, the review found good impacts and many positive achievements due to UK activities, and recommendations sought to enhance these. We will publish HMG’s response to the review in January 2026. 15. Officials working on energy access in FCDO regularly collaborate and will continue to find ways to continue and increase collaboration in 2026. Noting the Committee’s recommendation to establish a cross-departmental working group, we will always strive to ensure full join-up within FCDO on energy access, including integrating energy access with other sectors systematically. 3 Local Ownership and Inclusive Governance UK Support for Community-led Energy Projects Conclusion and Recommendation 3 (Conclusion 4, paragraph 34) The emphasis put by the FCDO and British International Investment (BII) on community-led energy is often implicit. The key concern is not the absence of the label, but whether localised energy systems are truly considered as a viable option and whether communities are genuinely placed at the centre of planning and implementation. (Recommendation 3, paragraph 35) The Government should be more transparent about how it enables local empowerment in energy projects and devise a better system of tracking projects that are community-led. It should allocate dedicated resources to support community-led energy initiatives as key vehicles for inclusive, locally driven development. BII, as a recipient of public funds, should similarly expand its investments to advance these efforts, including through technical support. Government Response: Partially Agree 16. Through our TEA and Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programmes we have established a strong approach to fostering local partnerships and inclusion. More broadly, under the Ayrton Fund for clean energy innovation, we recently concluded a study to capture best practices, lessons and recommendations on Locally-Led Action and Equitable Partnerships across the wider Ayrton energy innovation portfolio, to help embed and strengthen localisation and inclusion principles in programming. 17. British International Investment (BII) places a strong emphasis on transparency, demonstrated by its recognition as the world’s most transparent bilateral Development Finance Institution by Publish What You Fund (PWYF) in the 2025 DFI Transparency Index. BII investments provide clean energy to over 26 million people across sub-Saharan Africa including 7 million via distributed renewable energy solutions, and transmission and distribution (T&D) projects. BII will continue to invest in expanding energy access in line with its Impact Framework. 18. In applying its Responsible Investing Policy, BII works with its investees to ensure stakeholder and community engagement is considered and appropriate mechanisms are put in place. This can include dedicated consultation processes and the establishment of grievance mechanisms. For example, at BII investee Virunga Energies in eastern DRC, close engagement with local communities was achieved through involving key community stakeholders throughout project execution via representatives in each community. This includes ongoing information sharing, awareness, and training sessions on Virunga Energies’ infrastructure and on emergency response as well as grievance registries through phone, WhatsApp, and email. 19. In addition to project level information, Virunga Energies also works closely with communities supporting reforestation activities to mitigate flood risk and awareness raising sessions against gender-based violence and harassment. More information on the impact of BII’s investment