ESMAP: The Engine Behind Mission 300

Sometimes it is the people or organizations in the background that make all the difference. For Mission 300, the World Bank and African Development Bank initiative to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030, ESMAP is one of those influential actors behind the scenes. For more than 20 years, ESMAP has been conceiving, championing, and implementing game‑changing solutions that transform millions of lives by closing the energy access gap.

Incubating Mission 300: Building the Foundation
ESMAP’s longstanding commitment to energy access has shaped the DNA of Mission 300. Moving from defining concepts and working closely with governments in support of national electrification strategies and least-cost access plans, to mobilizing financing for projects and promoting innovative solutions. A causal example is ESMAP’s game‑changing Multi‑Tier Framework, which defines how the quality of energy access that populations are enjoying is measured today. By moving beyond the traditional binary categorization of people either having or not having access to power, it assesses energy access across multiple tiers, capturing the quality, reliability, capacity, and affordability of the energy services households receive.

Funding the Change
Through the generous support of its donors, ESMAP has financed Mission 300 projects and funded technical assistance. ESMAP is one of the top sources of external financing for Mission 300, having provided $71 million (October 2025) in co-financing for World Bank investment projects. In addition, through the Electrifying Africa Program, ESMAP plans to channel $52 million by the end of FY2027 to activities that are linked to and promote the Mission 300 agenda. So far, ESMAP has committed $32.7 million to support advisory and analytical work as well as lending operations in Africa. By 2027, ESMAP, through the Electrifying Africa program plans to enable new or improved electricity access for over 150 million people.

Comprehensive Support: Beyond Financing
While ESMAP’s financial support is critical, the program’s support extends beyond dollar contributions. ESMAP offers technical assistance through its own staff and a roster of sector-leading experts who work together with World Bank country task teams and governments to design and scale projects based on global best practices. Its expertise helps countries craft impactful electrification plans, accelerating progress toward universal access.

ESMAP’s support to African countries on electrification strategies, least-cost plans, policy reforms, and other technical assistance achieved major milestones with the announcement of 12 National Energy Compacts at the Africa Energy Summit in January 2025 and the launch of 17 additional National Energy Compacts at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025. These compacts outline each country’s roadmap to achieve energy access goals by 2030, including clean cooking and renewable energy generation components. All compacts share a common structure focused on policy reforms in five priority areas: (1) expanding generation and transmission at a competitive cost; (2) promoting regional integration; (3) scaling last-mile access; (4) enabling private sector participation; and (5) improving utility financial viability. These reforms are critical to building trust in the energy sector and catalyzing private investment.

For clean cooking, upstream work—such as national strategy support, market assessments, and inputs from Country Climate and Development Reports—has been instrumental in shaping countries’ clean cooking commitments.

In addition, ESMAP through its Sustainable Renewables Risk Mitigation Initiative (SRMI) has been systematically supporting the expansion of power generation in a clean, reliable, and resilient manner through renewable energy competitive tenders, and in so doing, helping reduce the costs to utilities and improving their financial viability in the long run. Lower generation costs allow utilities to expand the grid and improve the reliability of power supply.

A Knowledge Hub for Innovation
As a global knowledge hub, ESMAP produces cutting-edge research, distills market data, and provides practical insights that drive innovation in the energy sector. ESMAP’s reports and studies are widely recognized for their rigor and relevance, guiding policymakers and practitioners in designing effective energy access strategies. ESMAP publishes the Off-Grid Market Trends Report every two years, which, due to close cooperation with off-grid companies, provides a clear picture of the state of investments in the sector. In collaboration with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations Statistics Division, and the World Health Organization (WHO), ESMAP funds and publishes the Tracking SDG7 report, which presents the state of electrification worldwide.