According to the Rockefeller Foundation and its partners:

• Without major acceleration of clean energy deployment by 2050, 75 percent of global emissions could come from the 81 low- and middle-income countries considered energy-poor. The 3.6 billion people who currently live in energy poverty—almost 800 million of whom are still completely in the dark—deserve access to sufficient and reliable power. But doing so without triggering a climate catastrophe will require a transformation of the global energy system so that it provides clean energy for everyone.
• Our food system fails to adequately nourish over three billion people, even as it accelerates climate change by producing a quarter of emissions worldwide. We need a global transformation that ensures the system produces food that is good for people, and the planet.
• While the health sector accounts for only 4 percent of the world’s emissions, 3.3 billion people, who are least responsible for total emissions, are bearing the greatest health impacts from climate change. We need a transformation of health systems to better prevent, predict, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks caused or worsened by climate change.
• Climate change is exacerbating existing inequities throughout the global financial system. Though trillions of dollars are being invested in energy transitions in wealthier nations and localities, $3.2 trillion more is needed each year, particularly in communities being battered by climate change. We need a global financial system transformation that both unlocks that level of finance and channels it toward those who need it the most.

This energy transition must further opportunity: for example, the energy transformation needs to ensure everyone can meet what is called the “modern energy minimum,” or 1,000 kilowatt-hours of consumption per capita, per year. This level of reliable electricity would allow people to not just run a small appliance but also operate a small business.

The Charybdis River Water Turbine is ideally suited to contributing to this opportunity by providing baseload (24/7) power to remote and underserved communities in all parts of the world with access to flowing water. The technology is robust, reliable, and easy to install and maintain, at a cost well below that of installing the infrastructure necessary for grid connection. Unlike solar and wind energy systems, this river-based system does not require auxiliary power systems, including diesel generators, further reducing the carbon footprint of empowering huge numbers of presently energy-poor communities.