One in five people worldwide lack access to electricity. This is among the many challenges that financial institutions face when providing assistance to lower-income countries in order to promote economic and social development. The Energy Sector Strategy of the World Bank Group (ESS) comprises an overarching initiative to support energy poverty alleviation and environmentally sustainable development with provisions that include de-emphasizing coal-fired power generation, developing large-scale hydro-power where appropriate, establishing greenhouse gas emissions analysis programs, increasing lending for clean energy projects, promoting energy efficiency initiatives, expanding access to modern energy services, improving household fuel and distributed energy programs, encouraging local community engagement and empowerment, and supporting innovative energy policy.