Energy Working Group

Working Groups

Energy Working Group

Contributing more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the energy sector plays a dominant role in causing climate change. It is also instrumental for creating climate-compatible societies and thus a crucial focus of the design of low emission development strategies. Providing reliable, affordable, and clean energy for all is a universally agreed UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-7). Achieving it will be essential for many other social, economic, and environmental objectives.  

The Energy Working Group supports the deployment of innovative and climate-compatible development strategies in the energy sector. Launched in 2011, the Energy Working Group is GCAP’s longest standing work stream, bringing together over 1100 practitioners from national governments, multilateral institutions, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. The Energy Working Group assists countries around the world through advisory services and technical support, as well as peer-to-peer learning, knowledge sharing and other capacity-building initiatives. A key focus of our work is the advancement of Communities of Practice that bridge our activities from in-country technical assistance to group learnings to broad dissemination of knowledge products. Our services are offered free-of-charge to practitioners. 

Priority Areas

Advancing reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy solutions
Designing energy solutions with the greatest sustainable development benefits
Raising the ambition of NDCs in the energy sector
Derisking and financing clean energy investments
Engaging local communities, including youth, and empowering women
Supporting developing countries programs to build back better through SDG-stimulating instruments
Integrating energy needs and solutions with those of other sectors, in particular transport and agriculture

How We Work

On the global scale, our activities involve hosting webinars, disseminating relevant tools, providing targeted trainings, and drafting written knowledge products for all members of the Energy Working Group.

On the regional scale we work through three Communities of Practice: Mini-Grids, Grid-Integrated Renewable Energy, and Bioenergy. The regional Communities of Practice organize closed meetings and public webinars; develop policy guides and best-practice case studies; provide direct technical assistance to individual members; and organize country exchanges so that our members can learn from each other.

Communities of Practice

Communities of Practice are spaces for members interested in a specific topic to regularly learn from peers, exchange knowledge, connect with others, pilot ideas, co-design solutions, and receive technical assistance. Communities of Practice are demand driven and evolve dynamically to meet their members’ needs.

Mini-Grids

Coordinated by our Africa LEDS Partnership and focuses on:

Building an enabling environment for mini-grid deployment in African Countries through peer-to-peer learning for state and non-state actors.

Grid-Integrated Renewable Energy

Coordinated by our Asia LEDS Partnership and focuses on:

Net-Zero pathway planning, distributed energy resources and battery energy storage systems, and innovative financing for renewable energy deployment.

Integrating bioenergy in national energy and climate policies and linking bioenergy projects with financing through capacity building, peer-to-peer learning, and technical assistance.

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How to Get Involved?

Join the Energy Working Group and select Communities of Practice through the GCAP registration form linked below. As you complete the GCAP registration form, indicate which Working Groups and Communities of Practice you would like to join. By becoming a GCAP member, you will receive regular updates on events, activities, and opportunities related to GCAP and your Communities of Practice.

Contact secretariat@globalclimateactionpartnership.org with questions.

Coordinating Bodies

The Energy Working Group is guided by a team of international experts from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with collaborative support from the regional platforms (Libélula, SouthSouthNorth, ICLEI), Community of Practice coordinators, and others.

Faces of the Energy Working Group

Josh Ogada

Africa LEDS Partnership Mini-Grid Coordinator (South South North)

Aida Lorenzo

LAC Bioenergy Coordinator

Anandhan Subramaniyam

Asia LEDS Partnership Grid-Integrated Renewable Energy Coordinator (ICLEI)

Tim Reber

Africa LEDS Partnership Energy Working Group Coordinator (NREL)

Daniella Rough

LAC Energy Working Group Coordinator (NREL)

Akhilesh Magal

Asia LEDS Partnership Energy Working Group Coordinator (NREL)

The Latest from the Energy Working Group


Youth Climathon Call for Applications

11th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development Youth Climathon is inviting interested young climate activists to support development and implementation of innovative climate action solutions! Climathon,…

Energy Working Group Events

LEDS EEP webinar series: Tools and methodologies for sustainable energy planning

Join the LEDS Europe and Eurasia Platform (LEDS EEP) for a webinar series on Tools and methodologies for municipal and regional sustainable energy planning.

Promoting clean mini-grid public-private partnerships for rural electrification in Nigeria

Join the Clean Energy Solutions Center for a no-cost webinar focusing on the development of clean energy mini-grids in Nigeria.

Energy webinar: Scaling up energy access in sub-Saharan Africa

This webinar kicks off a new UN webinar series on the state of energy access in different parts of the world, starting with countries in…

Nairobi workshop: Low carbon microgrids decision support toolkit

Join the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) for its low carbon microgrids toolkit development workshop in Nairobi.

LCEDN webinar: Women and energy entrepreneurship: Business models for off-grid energy and social impact, Part II

In this webinar, you'll hear from women working on the frontlines of energy entrepreneurship with successful business models for off-grid energy