Revolutionizing Healthcare: Energy for Health Activation at COP28 Showcases Groundbreaking Solutions

Dubai, 05 Dec 2023 –The Energy for Health Activation at COP28, was inaugurated by Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO, Ms. Kitty van der Heijden, Deputy Executive Director, Partnerships, UNICEF and Dr. Harish Hande, CEO, SELCO Foundation. The activation will be at COP28 till December 12, 2023, showcasing SELCO Foundation and IKEA Foundation’s commitment to solar power 25,000 health facilities in India. It will share how sustainable energy can decentralise health services at scale in a manner that will improve healthcare for millions and reduce future emissions.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO stated at the inauguration, “I’m from the field and can associate myself with the images in the film. It’s the exact scenario I can remember. No electricity or partially functioning electricity which is not really efficient. We need to make it big and make it also fast. Better. Bigger. Faster.” Emphasizing on the need to expand the initiative, citing the impressive reduction in costs and the potential for installations in various countries. Dr Tedros called for collaborations amongst organizations, while acknowledging the commitments made by IKEA Foundation and SELCO Foundation. “What’s missing is the will. WE NEED COMMITMENT! We need a bold plan,” he said.

Per Heggenes, CEO, IKEA Foundation” Everyone is surprised that we are able to solarize 25,000 health centers in rural India within the relatively short amount of time. We have built the evidence and figured out what works and what doesn’t work, we can now improve  and go cheaper and better and faster with next 75,000 health centers in India. This is possible because of a combination of philanthropy and a great partner like SELCO.”

The partnership of IKEA Foundation and SELCO Foundation aims to leverage renewable energy technologies to accelerate electrification in healthcare setups. The ultimate goal is to power 25,000 healthcare facilities across India by 2026, and expand the successful approach across the Global South.

Dr. Harish Hande, CEO, SELCO Foundation shared “We had promised in May 2023 that in the next 7 months we would solar power and equip 1000 health centres with reliable energy. With IKEA Foundation and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, we have achieved 5000 in India in the same timeline, and we have promised you that in next 2 years we will reach 25,000 health facilities. I think its criminal if we are not able to do more by 2027. We (the collective stakeholder group and governments) should all together push for this.”

The Energy for Health Pavilion at COP28 sets a precedent for global cooperation, underscoring the critical role of sustainable energy solutions in revolutionizing healthcare access for vulnerable communities.

The immersive experiential film and exhibition is hosted at B2, Blue Zone, COP28 sheds light on the significant impact of unreliable electricity on health services in vulnerable communities.

Link to the livestream (Dr. Tedros @ 13.21): https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7136662573940183040

Link to the livestream (Per@ 23.00): https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7136662573940183040

Please find some collaterals shared below

• Presentation on ‘Energy For Health’, COP28
• Virtual tour of the ‘Energy For Health’ Activation at COP28
• Documentary film highlight challenges faced by communities with unreliable access to electricity in healthcare facilities

About the partners:

SELCO Foundation:

Established in 2010, SELCO Foundation’s mission is to develop holistic solutions that use sustainable energy as a catalyst to address poverty alleviation alongside ensuring environmental sustainability. SELCO’s interventions lead to the sustainable delivery of essential services such as healthcare, and enable improvements in livelihoods productivity and till date more than 7 million people have been impacted. The foundation does this by also developing enabling conditions, i.e the ecosystem for sustainable energy solutions to be locally developed, adopted, scaled and institutionalized through stakeholders including government agencies, financiers, local NGOs and enterprises.

For more information, visit www.selco foundation.org, and follow them on Twitter (@SELCOFoundation) and LinkedIn.

IKEA Foundation:

The IKEA Foundation is a strategic philanthropy that focuses its grant making efforts on tackling the two biggest threats to children’s futures: poverty and climate change. It currently grants more than €200 million per year to help improve family incomes and quality of life while protecting the planet from climate change. Since 2009, the IKEA Foundation has granted more than €1.5 billion to create a better future for children and their families.

In 2021 the Board of the IKEA Foundation decided to make an additional €1 billion available over the next five years to accelerate the reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions.