The fonds contains records created and received between 1958 and 2013 beginning from the Public Utilities Department and several successors through the Sustainable Energy Department (SEG). Records document the energy units' functional responsibilities including support to operational projects carried out by regional units, formulation of policy, preparation of research studies and publications, organization and participation in knowledge and learning events, liaison with external partners, and program collaboration across the energy sector. A large portion of records reflect the department's function as administrators of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) established in 1983 and ESMAP's precursor technical assistance program, the Energy Assessment Program (EAP) created in 1980 in response to the global energy crises of the 1970s.
While sector records were maintained in the Bank-wide centralized filing system from the early years of operations until mid-1987 and some of these records remain part of the Central Files fonds, departments often kept separate working files. It is primarily the working files of the energy sector that comprise the records in this fonds, along with records created after 1987 when recordkeeping responsibilities were turned over to the records-creating offices. See the arrangement note below for more information about the centralized files. The sector's rapid rate of growth and frequent organizational changes between the late 1970s until the mid-2000s are reflected in the various record-creating units in this fonds, their changes in names and reporting structure, and different filing systems. Primary sector functions however, as mentioned above, remained consistent over time.
The earliest records in the fonds, dating from 1958 to the late 1960s, are externally produced maps and reports that were used as reference for projects. The fonds also contains earlier records maintained by Assistant Director Efrain Friedmann that represent the department's energy sector work in the 1970s and cover discussion of nuclear power and energy conservation. Records are, however, predominantly from between 1980 and 2002.
Records in the fonds cover a broad range of subsectors and topics under energy development, including: electric power; fuel sources and technologies and hydrocarbons, such as coal, oil, natural gas; renewable and non-conventional energy sources, such as photovoltaic cells, solar power, hydropower, wind power, thermal power, and biomass; environmental issues and assessments; climate change; power systems and energy efficiency; gas trading; electricity supply and grid extension; rural electrification; power sector rehabilitation and institutional restructuring of power utilities; legislation and market forces; and competition and regulatory policy.
Mining sector records are also represented in the fonds, to a lesser extent. Although mining was originally situated within the industry sector in the Bank's organizational structure, the mining and oil and gas units coexisted under the same departments from 1982 until their merger into the Oil, Gas, Mining Division, Sustainable Energy Department (SEGOM) in 2010. Records related to the mining sector primarily cover the period from the 1990s to 2013, although there is some earlier material dating from the early 1980s. See the arrangement note for more information.
