Addressing gender dimensions of the low carbon transition is core to ensuring a gendered transformative change that is more equitable. Gender equity is thus part of a larger initiative to identify the most promising research issues to support an actionable low-carbon transition in the Global South. 

Aim: To ensure that research in support of an inclusive global low-carbon transition (LCT) takes into account gender dimensions in order to promote gender equity. 

Gender equity is connected to modern energy services in many ways, but quantitative empirical work on these connections is limited. We examine the relationship between a multi-dimensional measure of women’s empowerment and access to improved cookstoves, clean fuels, and electricity. We use the World Bank Multi-Tier Framework survey datasets from seven countries that include almost 25 000 households in Africa and Asia.

The world remains far from meeting Sustainable Development Goals 5 (gender equality) and 7 (universal access to modern energy). Energy access may empower women even as empowered women are more likely to adopt and use modern energy services. Such bidirectional linkages are underappreciated in the empirical literature, which typically estimates unidirectional relationships based on simple binary indicators.