Dependency to opportunity: Making cheap power work for poorer countries

For low- and middle-income countries, the transition to clean energy could be a turning point — not just for cutting emissions, but for transforming economies long constrained by costly, unreliable power sources.

Cheap, renewable energy offers the chance to fuel industries, create jobs, and drive growth on their own terms. But realizing that potential will depend on whether global finance systems and development institutions can evolve fast enough to make it viable, experts say.

That challenge — and opportunity — took center stage at Devex Impact House during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings, where development and climate leaders explored how to turn renewables into a true engine of economic transformation. On stage were Avinash Persaud, special adviser on climate change to the president of the Inter-American Development Bank; Gillian Marcelle, CEO of Resilience Capital Ventures; Clarence Edwards, executive director of the Washington office of E3G; and Andy Herscowitz, CEO of the Mission 300 Accelerator.