Breaking the Poverty Energy Nexus

In our modern world, more than 2 billion people still have no access to modern energy services. Without considerably improving the energy situation in developing countries the central Millennium Development Goal of halving global poverty by 2015 will not be achieved because energy is vitally linked to numerous important dimensions of development. When it comes to the adverse impacts of unsustainable energy use in developing countries, the current energy-poverty debate is mainly restricted to the rural or household level of analysis. On the whole, little detailed investigations are made about the structural economic costs associated with energy consumption patterns on the macro or national level. This is especially the case for the great majority of developing countries that do not possess significant commercial energy resources and therefore heavily rely on fossil fuel imports to meet their energy needs. This book is intended to contribute to the debate by offering a thorough and comprehensive structural analysis of how energy import dependency and poverty are linked at the macro level and how renewable energy sources can help to reduce the incidence of poverty in developing countries by mitigating import dependency. Clearly and accessibly written, this book is a reference for anyone involved in teaching, research and thinking about the energy-poverty nexus in international development politics.