UN Secretary-General António Guterres convened the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE) under the auspices of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). This Dialogue was the first global gathering on energy under the auspices of the UN General Assembly since the 1981 UN Conference on New and Renewable Sources of Energy. It presented an historic opportunity to provide transformational action in the first years of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Decade of Action and support the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The HLDE consisted of a series of Leadership Dialogues featuring Heads of State and Government and other global leaders. Just prior to the official opening, an interactive “fireside chat” took place, featuring leaders from the UN and business and civil society organizations.

At the Dialogue, global leaders formally announced a series of “Energy Compacts,” voluntary commitments aimed at achieving SDG 7 on clean, affordable energy for all by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. To bring together businesses, cities, foundations, youth and other civil society representatives to announce their own Energy Compacts and mobilize to partnerships for transformative action, virtual multi-stakeholder energy action “pre-events” were organized by the United Nations on Wednesday and Thursday, 22-23 September. The UN opened a web portal in August 2021 for all interested parties to register their Energy Compacts prior to the HLDE.

The primary outcome of the Dialogue was expected to be a “global roadmap” consisting of five thematic reports prepared in Spring 2021 by Technical Working Groups, each containing detailed recommendations for action needed, regarding:

• energy access;
• innovation, technology, and data;
• energy transition;
• enabling SDGs through inclusive, just energy transitions; and
• finance and investment.

The five reports were endorsed by the HLDE Ministerial Thematic Forums convened virtually on 21-25 June 2021.