What We’ve Been Reading: The Latest In Clean Cooking And Renewable Energy Innovation, Clean Water And Sanitation, Sustainable Development And Much More. 

World Water Day: How the WASH Landscape Has Changed in the COVID Era
Experts say that COVID-19 has significantly changed the project and funding landscape for water, sanitation, and hygiene, and will continue to do so. 2.2 billion people still can’t access safe drinking water while 3 billion lack hand-washing facilities with soap.
Read more via Devex

“Moral Failure”: More than a Year into the Pandemic, ⅓ of the Globe Lacks Access to Safe Drinking Water or Decent Toilets
As many countries have begun to recover from COVID-19 due to vaccine rollout, much of the globe is still missing access to basic safe drinking water. UN general assembly president Volkan Bozkar says the world has committed a “moral failure” in ensuring access to clean water for all.
Read more via CBS News

$1.2 Million Innovation Fund Launched to Unearth Emerging Technologies
The African Enterprise Challenge Fund launched a $1.2 million innovation to realize the potential of renewable energy to create new business opportunities. This includes solutions to the negative impacts of traditional cooking options.
Read more via Africa News

World Stands at Critical Moment to Deliver on 2030 Agenda
Multilateral engagement is critical to responding to the pandemic and achieving the SDGs. The UN is ready to strengthen its strategic partnership with the EU to deliver on these SDGs, which is more urgent than ever.
Read more via Modern Diplomacy

New Clean Cooking Solution Funded by the UNCDF in DRC
The UNCDF will provide $500,000 to the British company Bboxx to deploy its clean cooking solution to several provinces in the DRC.
Read more via Afrika 21

New Mini-Grid Loan for Winch Energy in Northern Uganda
SunFunder disbursed a new $2 million loan to Winch Energy for the construction of 25 mini-grids in Northern Uganda. It is part of the UK-based mini-grid developer’s new limited-recourse financing platform Winch Energy IPP Holdings, established with NEoT Offgrid Africa.
Read more via Sunfunder

SE4ALL Launches Campaign to Help Drive Reliable Energy Supply
SE4ALL has launched a year long campaign called “be bold” to push for action to meet SDG7, affordable and reliable energy for all by 2030. The campaign follows the realization that affordable and clean energy for all can help alleviate the global crises of extreme poverty and climate change.
Read more via Engineering News

UNICEF: One in Five Children Globally Does not Have enough Water to Meet their Everyday Needs
A new UNICEF initiative called “Water Security for All” has been launched to push global resources and drive support to reach children in water vulnerable hotspots.
Read more via UNICEF

COVID-19 Poses a New Challenge for Clean Cooking Progress in Kenya
A joint collaborative effort between the University of Birmingham and the Population Council looks at how disrupted global energy markets and supply chains due to the early collapse in global oil demand have affected low-income households in Kenya.
Read more via The Conversation