Highlights and images for 23 September 2022

The EnergyNow SDG7 Action Forum brought together leaders from the UN, national governments, and civil society to discuss challenges and opportunities related to the energy transition and take stock of progress on the over 185 voluntary Energy Compact commitments, worth over USD 600 billion, that were announced during the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy in September 2021.

Damilola Ogunbiyi, UN-Energy Co-Chair and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, opened the virtual event on 23 September 2022 and highlighted that the Energy Compacts create a marketplace for matchmaking, accelerated action and monitoring. She also stressed that addressing energy poverty and achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 (affordable and clean energy) is fundamental for achieving all of the SDGs.

Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General, UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), highlighted the multiple challenges the world currently faces, including floods, droughts, and wildfires, and noted they are evidence the world is on track towards climate disaster. At the same time, he said the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine are causing an interlinked food and energy crisis. He called for “doubling down” on SDG 7 action to get SDG implementation back on track, including closing the energy access gap by 2030 and achieving net zero energy emissions by 2050.

Speaking for UN-Energy Co-Chair Achim Steiner, Haoliang Xu, UN Development Programme (UNDP), called for more aggressive timelines to ensure the 2030 objectives for access to clean energy and clean cooking solutions can be met. He announced the UN-Energy Highlights report, which outlines the work of UN-Energy members, and highlighted the historic opportunity to make decisions that will affect the wellbeing of generations to come.  

Eight roundtables were organized during the virtual event, focusing on the global context, accelerating SDG 7 action, and partnerships for action. Speakers underscored the importance of energy quality and access, energy efficiency, decentralized energy, and funding in realizing a just energy transition. Speakers also addressed challenges due to the fact that the energy sector is one of the least diverse in terms of gender parity, with women and girls impacted the most with respect to access to energy and clean cooking fuels.

Among other solutions, speakers highlighted the roles of enabling policies, investments, and environmental standards. Youth participants were complimented for the energy they brought to the discussion. The need for champions and to learn from implementation efforts were also discussed. Takeaways highlighted at the end of the roundtables included the need to: be optimistic and motivate each other to get back on track; harness the power of innovation; promote inclusivity; and consider the needs for behavioral change to prepare for future energy crises.

Hans Olav Ibrekk, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway, outlined challenges, including the need to replace one coal-fired power plant per day in order to achieve the global objectives.

Joyce Lee, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), said while wind energy is competitive, it needs to align with energy efficiency and storage for energy systems transformation.

Francesco La Camera, Director General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), highlighted IRENA's 10 Energy Compacts and noted the launch of the Energy Transition Accelerator Financing (ETAF) Platform to accelerate the transition to renewable energy in developing countries.

Kitty van der Heijden, Vice Minister for International Development, the Netherlands, highlighted the Netherlands’ ambition to improve renewable energy access for at least 100 million people by 2030 through demand-side subsidies at scale and USD 100 million for climate investment funds.

Irene Giner-Reichl, Co-Founder and Senior Advisor, Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition, and President, Global Forum on Sustainable Energy, highlighted the multiple benefits of engaging women, including better economic and social outcomes, and outlined the role of the Gender and Energy Compact in empowering women to accelerate a just and inclusive energy transition.

Kristina Skierka, CEO, Power for All, highlighted the need to ensure companies providing decentralized energy solutions can grow sustainably, including through skills training, enabling policies, and tackling structural inequalities in energy markets.

Kandeh Yumkella, Member of Parliament, Sierra Leone, CEO of The Energy Nexus Network (TENN), and former UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, highlighted the need for: technical expertise at the country level; more women’s voices; country and regional data on fatalities; getting utilities onboard to promote electric cooking; fourth generation mini-grid design to include clean cooking solutions; and champions at the head-of-agency level, with convening power.

Paul Mbuthi, Senior Deputy Director, Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, Kenya, underscored the need to focus on the affordability, availability, and appropriateness of local solutions.

Caroline Golin, Global Head, Energy Market Development and Policy, Google, said Google has used a machine learning approach to optimize the way it cools their data centers, which has resulted in a reduction in energy consumption by 30%.

Morgan Bazilian, Director of the Payne Institute, University of Colorado, said it is difficult to make subsidy reform decisions that are devoid of politics, and emphasized the importance of communication and ensuring benefits reach those with lower incomes.

Wei Huang, Director of Division of Energy Planning, Information and Knowledge Management, Department of Nuclear Energy, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), highlighted that addressing energy, economics, social, and environmental concerns in policies is a complicated process and discussed IAEA tools to assist with evaluations in the energy planning process.

During a closing session, Kanika Chawla, Programme Manager, SEforALL, presented the Energy Compacts Annual Report 2022. She highlighted that after one year, out of 185 Energy Compacts, 51% have reported progress. Closing speakers also emphasized the importance of convening such discussions annually, to share lessons, remain accountable, and stay engaged in action.