The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) published the report of the ENERGYNOW SDG7 Action Forum 2024 that was held in New York, September 25-27. The first ENERGYNOW SDG7 Action Forum convened in September 2022, bringing together a range of stakeholders to focus on ways to accelerate energy access and the energy transition.
Below is a summary.
Summary report, 25–27 September 2024, ENERGYNOW SDG7 Action Forum 2024
Recent global crises, including the climate crisis, ongoing conflicts, and a constrained global economic outlook, have compounded the “fragility of past hard-earned progress” on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including on SDG7 (ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030). With only six years left to achieve the SDGs, there is still time to realize SDG7; however, efforts must be ramped up and accelerated as energy is critical for meeting the rest of the SDGs, as well as the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The ENERGYNOW SDG7 Action Forum 2024 provided a platform for stakeholders, including decision makers and practitioners, in support of “driving momentum and mobilizing action.” The third edition of the Forum showcased the Energy Compacts, which are voluntary, trackable commitments designed to incentivize action towards realizing SDG7 in line with net-zero goals. Thus far, USD 1.4 trillion in investment has been committed to over 200 energy compacts.
The SDG7 Action Forum programme included close to 20 sessions focused on advancing progress on SDG7 and the global energy agenda towards 2030 and beyond. The Energy Compacts Annual Progress Report 2024 was launched during the High-Level opening.
The first day focused on the theme of Energizing Sustainable Development, including a session on distributed renewable energy technologies in rural and remote areas. Throughout the Forum, many speakers discussed the energy transition and put forward suggestions on how energy could be addressed in a post-2030 agenda, which the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is expected to take up in 2027. On several occasions, Mission 300 was highlighted as a goal to bring electricity access, by 2030, to 300 million people in Africa, where the majority without access are located.
The second day included discussions on the theme of Creating Pathways for Investments, with a high-level ministerial segment discussing ways for the significant critical mineral resources in Africa to benefit Africans, instead of being exported. As Monica Chang’anamuno, Minister of Mining, Malawi, lamented: “When all the minerals are gone what will be left for Africa?…They will not grow back like a tree.”
The final day addressed the theme of Accelerating a Just and Inclusive Energy Transition, with sessions on universal energy access, digitalization, and gender, among others. The importance of women’s visibility was highlighted, with one speaker announcing that “women make up 50% of the population…if our voices are not heard, the world misses out on 50% of the solutions.”
The ENERGYNOW SDG7 Action Forum 2024 took place from 25-27 September 2024 in New York and was organized by UN-Energy supported by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) on the sidelines of the 79th session of UNGA and just after the Summit of the Future. UN-Energy is a consortium of nearly thirty UN agencies and international organizations who collaborate on various aspects of energy, with the aim of catalyzing achievement of SDG7 by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.
The full report is available here.
External link
Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 