Recently, the International Energy Agency issued an insightful and important report. It was released in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly annual meeting, and focuses on the role of energy in reducing extreme poverty and meeting other global development goals.

Of the many challenges related to energy, I think this one is often overlooked, at least in more developed countries. In the United States, for example, lights go on at the flip of a switch; our houses are heated or cooled at the push of a button; and our industries have access to reliable energy supplies to fuel their business needs. But many developing countries lack the energy infrastructure to enable these things – and economic and social progress is discouragingly slow as a result.

As the report shows, it’s not just a lack of infrastructure at issue – it’s also the sheer size of the challenge.

About 1.4 billion people – more than 20 percent of the world’s population – have no electricity, according to the IEA.  The “greatest challenge” is in sub-Saharan Africa, where only 31 percent of the population has access to electricity.

Additionally, 2.7 billion people lack access to modern cooking fuels, and instead rely on traditional biomass – fuels like wood and dung.  These are harmful to air quality and dangerous to people’s health.  In fact, the IEA study says that by 2030, premature deaths from household air pollution from the use of biomass will be higher than deaths from malaria, tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS.

At the turn of the century, the UN adopted eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at improving living conditions and opportunities for the world’s poorest people, and this year it marked the 10-year anniversary by reviewing progress towards meeting them.  The MDGs include reducing poverty, hunger and disease; establishing universal education; and promoting gender equality and opportunities for women.

And, according to the IEA report, each of the eight goals depends on access to modern energy.

“Lack of access to modern energy services is a serious hindrance to economic and social development and must be overcome if the UN Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved,” the study found.

The report highlighted the multiple ways that energy elevates the lives of people and communities. “Access to modern forms of energy is essential for the provision of clean water, sanitation and healthcare and provides great benefits to development through the provision of reliable and efficient lighting, heating, cooking, mechanical power, transport and telecommunication services.”

There are a lot of ideas and recommendations from various groups about how to achieve universal access to modern energy, and the IEA highlights a number of the key issues to address: global commitment, financing, technology, goals and assessments, among other issues. And while there will be diverse views on how best to achieve these objectives, I think studies like this are a positive step toward recognizing and addressing growing global energy needs.  It is a helpful reminder about the importance of energy – and the urgency behind developing more of it so that more people can achieve their aspirations to a better quality of life.

Take a look at the study, “Energy Poverty: How to make modern energy access universal?” to learn more, or read more about ExxonMobil’s own global energy perspective in our annual Outlook for Energy.