A central challenge in the global transition to cleaner energy is how governments can design policies that deliver large social benefits while facing trade-offs in energy security, fiscal costs, and household adoption frictions. The authors studied this question in urban Nepal, where cooking is dominated by imported liquid petroleum gas (LPG), but abundant hydropower makes both large-scale electrification and improved energy security feasible. 

The authors estimate the marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for improved electricity service reliability in a nationally representative sample 1,047 grid or mini-grid connected households in Sierra Leone, using two complementary valuation approaches. Analyzing data from a discrete choice experiment, they find that, on average, households exhibit strong preferences for shorter outages; fewer daytime and evening outages, compared to nighttime outages; and prior notification, though there is heterogeneity in the relative weights ascribed to each of these attributes.

In this study, the authors conduct an implementation science analysis of Phase I of the “Promotion of Bio-Ethanol as Alternative Clean Fuel for Cooking in the United Republic of Tanzania” project, describing the roll-out of this market-based bioethanol stove program. Leveraging program administrative data, individual interviews, and focus group discussions, we apply the RE-AIM framework to evaluate the successes and limitations of the project.

Reliable electricity is the foundation of modern economies and essential to social and human development. Without it, firms cannot expand, hospitals cannot operate safely, and households hesitate to invest in appliances and tools that improve daily life. It is reliability—not just connection—that unlocks the full promise of access: delivering jobs, growth, and opportunity. Yet across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), ensuring electricity reliability has proven to be one of the most intractable energy systems challenges.

This study investigates the impact of elected politicians geographical representation on distributive decisions in a solar energy safety net program in Northern Bangladesh. Using a unique dataset on solar home system installations and political leaders’ biographies, we find strong evidence of political capture in the form of birthplace favoritism, leading to an uneven distribution of solar home systems among villages. Heterogeneous voting power within a rural council further amplifies political capture at the local level.

The authors evaluated the effects of a large-scale ethanol cooking fuel promotion program in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and found substantial uptake of ethanol cooking. However, alternative fuels were not fully replaced under this scheme. The report concludes that improving the relative convenience of ethanol as a cooking fuel is needed to achieve broader positive impacts. 

This study focuses on assessing willingness to pay (WtP) for electricity among households and businesses—both those already connected to the grid but coping with unreliable supply, and those who are expected to gain access through future grid expansion or densification. This work provides a comprehensive valuation of the benefits of both new electricity connections and enhanced reliability for current users, as well as a rich dataset on energy use, perceptions, and expenditures in the study area that could be used for policymaking or future research.

The Energy Transitions and Investment in Emerging Markets: Navigating Shifting Undercurrents summit was convened on April 8, 2025, during a moment of profound disruption and transformation. In an era marked by the dismantling of US foreign assistance programs and rising pressures on multilateral systems, the event brought together the Duke University community and leading practitioners to take stock and ask urgent questions about what comes next.

Clean cooking technologies have the potential to deliver substantial health, environmental, climate, and gender equity benefits. We use the BAR-HAP model to conduct the first global analysis of the regional and global costs and benefits of several subsidy and financing policies supporting household transitions to cleaner technologies. The analysis provides evidence-based estimates of these interventions' impacts, while remaining conservative about factors such as stove usage, subsidy leakage, and exposure levels, for which there remains considerable uncertainty.

Increasing plastic waste pollution has led to a rising prevalence of the open burning of plastic waste, especially in locations lacking formal waste-management systems. Poor, urban communities in the Global South face particularly acute challenges in accessing both organized waste-collection services and low-cost traditional energy sources, and clean cooking fuel alternatives tend to be unaffordable for their low-income residents.