In June 2021, the Ikea Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation set up a $1 billion initiative to catalyze investments in distributed renewable energy (DRE).

The initiative aims to reduce 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions and improve 1 billion lives by:

• Kick-starting post-pandemic economic recovery
• Enabling emerging economies to leapfrog to renewable energy

DRE is renewable energy generated from sources such as mini-grid and off-grid solutions, located near the point of use, rather than centralized sources like power plants.

The new global platform will oversee the organizations’ combined matching funds. It aims to deliver clean and reliable power to the 800 million people worldwide who lack electricity, and a further 2.8 billion who have unreliable access. It will be run as a public charity to manage a concerted effort to rapidly channel development funds to life-changing projects on the ground.

So far, this project seems to still be largely in the planning stage.

For more information see https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/commitment/power/