Delivering affordable, reliable, and secure access to electricity, while also meeting the world’s climate targets, requires a transformation in the ways electricity is supplied, delivered, and used across the globe.

No two countries’ energy transitions will be the same as countries’ diverse needs, priorities, and resources will require different trajectories and tailored solutions. However, no one country should have to chart their own path in a silo. There are a growing number of points of progress across all six continents that can help guide and inspire the work ahead. The rapid warming of our planet does not afford us the time to reinvent the wheel, but requires us to build off prior successes, learn from past mistakes, and scale innovations throughout the global power sector.

By documenting these points of progress, the Global Energy Transformation Guide: Electricity intends to support leaders who are seeking guidance on how to simultaneously expand energy access and promote sustainable development while decarbonizing their power sector to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. This report describes the challenge ahead and introduces key elements of the framework used to guide our research, including seven key outcomes and eight catalysts for change, which are high-impact levers available to electricity sector leaders across countries to transform the power sector.

This report is part of RMI’s Global Energy Transformation Guide.