LEAP is a not-for-profit platform designed to tackle the systemic and persistent barriers preventing universal access to energy and the economic, social, and environmental benefits it provides. It focuses on Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, where access to reliable and affordable energy remains limited.
Working alongside Accelerate7 and the wider Lightrock platform, LEAP seeks to develop and fund high-impact projects that mobilise capital, strengthen market conditions, and increase the availability of essential energy-related goods and services.
LEAP works to accelerate progress towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7): ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
LEAP develops and supports projects across three core areas:
- 01
Closing the gap
We design innovative financing mechanisms, including subsidy models and blended finance structures, that make energy access solutions more affordable for customers and scalable for providers.
- 02
Enabling the public and private sectors
We work across policy, regulation, market development, and stakeholder coordination to create the conditions businesses need to operate, invest, and scale.
- 03
Reaching the underserved
We develop targeted projects in rural, remote and underserved markets often overlooked by commercial capital, helping unlock private sector solutions where they are needed most.
A snapshot of LEAP’s work to unlock affordable, reliable energy access.
Appliance Access
Working with MECS (funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office through its Global Research and Technology Department portfolio) and Loughborough University, LEAP is supporting the development of a bulk procurement platform to make energy-efficient appliances more affordable and accessible across Africa and Asia.
The platform is designed to consolidate demand, negotiate better terms with manufacturers, improve product quality, and help distributors bridge working capital gaps.
The vision: Potential reduction in appliance costs exceeding 20% for consumers while establishing a commercially sustainable marketplace for energy-efficient appliances within three years.
Last-Mile Investment Lab
Together with Catalyst Energy Advisors, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and the Rockefeller Foundation, LEAP is driving the conversation on new bankable financing structures for last-mile electrification, convening governments, donors, and sector leaders.
The project addresses persistent barriers including affordability gaps, fragmented delivery models, policy uncertainty, and inconsistent subsidy structures, helping governments translate off-grid strategies into transaction-ready public-private partnership frameworks.
The vision: Scalable financing and delivery models that move last-mile electrification from fragmented pilots to commercially viable national programmes.
Modern Cooking Catalyst
Working with Sustainable Energy for All and the School Meals Coalition, LEAP is supporting the development of a programmatic carbon crediting framework for clean cooking in schools in Tanzania, helping to unlock carbon finance as a sustainable revenue stream for school meal programmes.
The vision: A replicable model for generating carbon revenue from school-based clean cooking programmes that can be applied across multiple countries.
Securing For the Last Mile: Financing the Next Era of Electrification
Read Lightrock and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet’s latest report exploring how to accelerate the next wave of rural electrification.
Lightrock & GEAPP Report 2026Examples of project collaborators
Sustainable Energy for All
The Rockefeller Foundation
Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
*Includes project co-developers, co-authors, providers of technical input, implementors and operators. List is not exhaustive.