Clean Energy, Environment and Economic Development

Access to clean and affordable energy is a necessity for ending poverty

Norway’s aim for Clean Energy, Environment and Economic Development in Nepal is to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth through the development of clean energy and climate cooperation.

Norway is committed to the Paris-agreement on climate change mitigation (The Paris Climate Accord), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. We also seek to help our partner countries to achieve their own commitments.

Nepal has a vast hydropower potential, and Norway is supporting Nepal with Norwegian competence and technology transferred through the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) and NTNU/SINTEF.

Together with the Government of Nepal and the Asian Development Bank, Norway also supports three  projects to improve transmission and distribution infrastructure in Nepal for improved energy access to the population and to make it possible to import and export power.

Climate change in the Himalayas are happening faster than the global average and may affect as many as two billion people living downstream in Asia. At the same time, these changes are poorly understood. Water availability, agriculture, biodiversity, local communities and hydropower, will all be affected. Norway is therefore working with International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) to better understand and mitigate these effects and to encourage science-policy dialogue in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. 

HIGHLIGHTED PROJECTS

Find a list of current projects here.

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Support to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)

ICIMOD is a regional intergovernmental knowledge-sharing centre that bridges science, policy and practice. ICIMOD provides science and uses this to promote fact-based policies in the eight member countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. ICIMOD’s work is primarily focused on climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region through six regional programs. Norway signed a five-year agreement in 2018 with ICIMOD to support the institution and their programs until 2022. The support will help the member countries to achieve international commitments such as the Paris-accord and the sustainable development goals. Norway’s grant contribution is NOK 109,9 million total for the period of 2018-2022.

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Energize Nepal (ENEP)

The development objective of the project “Energize Nepal” (ENEP) is to improve the capacity of research and education required for the development of the hydropower sector in Nepal and the region. ENEP will achieve its development objectives through its two components: i) Hydropower Development, which focuses on research and education in various aspects of hydropower development (sedimentation, geology, mechanical and electrical); and ii) Renewable Nepal (RENP) II, which focuses on research and implementation in partnership with private sector companies, primarily within renewable energy. The programme builds on the long-term collaboration between Kathmandu University, HydroLab and NTNU/SINTEF. Norway's grant contribution is NOK 25 million for the period of 2016-2021.

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South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation - Power Transmission and Distribution System Strengthening Project (SASEC -PTDSSP)

In partnership with ADB, Norway provides NOK 360 million to support the Government of Nepal’s efforts to improve access, reliability and efficient power supply in Nepal. The project aims to add 850 000 new and improved access customers to the grid. The Project will also enhance the national grid capacity so that more hydropower projects can evacuate their power to the grid. The Norwegian contribution to the programme focuses specifically on Province 2. The support aims to provide improved access to electricity in terms of quality, reliability and safety to help a poor and marginalized population. The programme will also focus on how to improve the capacity of women to use electricity for energy based enterprises. This will be done by support to construction of low voltage lines and by offering training programs.

Cross-cutting issues

All measures funded by the Norwegian government are required to be based on these principles

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Climate change and the environment

Climate change and environmental damage are destroying ecosystems, with negative repercussions for development, health and food production. It is important that our projects take climate change and the environment into account.

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Human Rights & Gender Equality

The promotion of human rights and democratic principles is a crucial part of Norwegian foreign policy. There is a special focus on gender equality where the fundamental aim is to increase the opportunities available to women and girls, promote their right to self-determination, and further their empowerment.

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Zero-tolerance policy on corruption

Norway practices a zero-tolerance on corruption. If you have any suspicions of financial irregularities or other misconduct in our programmes or implementing partners, go to our contact page.

Transparency and open data

The Norwegian Aid Statistics portal gives you easy access to all official statistics about Norwegian development assistance from 1960 until today. You can choose your own content and scope of the report, and get the numbers as maps, graphs and tables.

Norwegian Aid Statistics

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' grant portal provides an overview of all grants from the Ministry and Norad for which agreements have been entered into, and for which disbursements are planned for this year and for up to the next four years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' grants portal