Affordable and Clean Energy # SDG 7
Notre Dame Virtual School’s March Theme is Affordable and Clean Energy – SDG #7
Goal 7 is about ensuring access to clean and affordable energy, which is key to the development of agriculture, business, communications, education, healthcare and transportation. The world continues to advance towards sustainable energy targets – but not fast enough. At the current pace, about 660 million people will still lack access to electricity and close to 2 billion people will still rely on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking by 2030. Our everyday life depends on reliable and affordable energy. And yet the consumption of energy is the dominant contributor to climate change, accounting for around 60 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions. From 2015 to 2021, the proportion of the global population with access to electricity has increased from 87 per cent to 91 per cent.
Ensuring universal access to affordable electricity by 2030 means investing in clean energy sources such as solar, wind and thermal. Expanding infrastructure and upgrading technology to provide clean energy in all developing countries is a crucial goal that can both encourage growth and help the environment. Source: [ https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/energy/ ]
Facts and figures
- The world continues to advance towards sustainable energy targets – but not fast enough. At the current pace, about 660 million people will still lack access to electricity and close to 2 billion people will still rely on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking by 2030.
- Renewable sources power nearly 30 per cent of energy consumption in the electricity sector, but challenges remain in heating and transport sectors. Developing countries experience 9.6 per cent annual growth in renewable energy installation, but despite enormous needs, international financial flows for clean energy continue to decline.
- To ensure access to energy for all by 2030, we must accelerate electrification, increase investments in renewable energy, improve energy efficiency and develop enabling policies and regulatory frameworks.
- 733 million people don’t have access to electricity. That’s about one in ten people worldwide. Energy Access | United Nations Development Programme
- Access to electricity went from 73% in 1998 to 90% in 2020.Access to electricity | United Nations Development Programme
- It’s estimated that between US$ 35 billion and 40 billion are needed annually to reach universal electricity access between 2021 and 2030 to reach universal access to electricity. Access to electricity | United Nations Development Programme
The global electricity access has risen from 87% in 2015 to 91% in 2021, but 675 million people, primarily in LDCs and sub-Saharan Africa, remain without access. While progress has been made in improving access to electricity and clean cooking fuels globally, 675 million people remain unconnected to grids and 2.3 billion continue to rely on unsafe and polluting fuels for cooking.
Renewable sources power nearly 30% of energy consumption in the electricity sector, but challenges remain in heating and transport sectors.
In 2021, 71% of the global population had access to clean cooking fuels and technologies, up from 64% in 2015. The region with the lowest access rates was sub-Saharan Africa, where progress towards clean cooking has failed to keep pace with growing populations, leaving a total of 0.9 billion people without access in 2021.
Source: The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023. [ https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2023/?_gl=1*m5hkt8*_ga*MTcxMzkxNzAzNy4xNzEzOTcxMzU4*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*MTcxMzk3MTM1OC4xLjAuMTcxMzk3MTM1OC4wLjAuMA ]
PDF – Goal 7
Mixed efforts to achieve energy goals highlighted at the end of Sustainability Week
[ https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148766 ]
Meeting the goal
Mr. Francis suggested three ways of meeting their goals – money, making use of resources, and international cooperation.He said trillions of dollars are needed to accelerate the energy transitions and avoid the impacts of climate change. Next, he said, governments, the private sectors, civil society and more need to work together to source innovations and propel action. And finally, international cooperation “must continue to be the standard bearer for our efforts.”
Mixed efforts to achieve energy goals highlighted at the end of Sustainability Week
19 Apr 2024
The President of the UN General Assembly called for the acknowledgement of mixed efforts to achieve the goals of the Decade of Sustainable Energy, as the UN’s first ever Sustainability Week drew to a close on Friday.
UN News Stories offers a comprehensive collecti
Two additional resource sites:
[ http://www.laudatosiplatform.org ]
[ https://www.sowinghopefortheplanet.org/ ]
As the people of God, we must work together on behalf of all Creation, as part of that mighty river of peace and justice. “Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travelers sharing the same flesh, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice, brothers and sisters all.” –Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti
Download and Read: Study Guide for Fratelli Tutti
