Recommendation 17

HM Government Deferred

Government Response: Partially Agree 37. The FCDO increasingly utilises disaggregated data, including gender, disability, and geographic information, to inform inclusive planning for clean energy access, though availability and consistency vary across programmes. 38. Geographic data is routinely collected for infrastructure projects, while detailed end-user data is often challenging for large-scale or indirect beneficiary interventions. However, market studies, surveys, and consultations help ensure responsiveness to diverse needs. 39. We acknowledge that disaggregated data on people with improved clean energy access is low and more could be done to improve this. The upcoming Portfolio Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) contract will make targeted improvements to climate finance KPIs and reporting systems to strengthen disaggregated data reporting on gender and disability. We will also work with value-for-money assessments for future climate finance, which would provide an opportunity to better integrate considerations of long-term social impacts and inclusivity into decision-making processes. In addition, we recognise the need to make better use of existing evidence on the social impacts and benefits of climate finance interventions to inform future approaches. 40. We are also exploring potential approaches to evaluating community-led projects via the Portfolio MEL contract which could include evaluation on long-term equity, accessibility and system legitimacy, aligned with our ICF GEDSI statement. 41. Participatory approaches to MEL are also important to understand community perceptions on whether the energy system is fair, inclusive and trustworthy. 42. At this stage, we are unable to commit to adopting a multi-dimensional evaluation framework for community-led energy projects by June 2026. Any decision on adopting a framework will depend on future resourcing beyond FY25/26 commitments.