Sustainable Energy for All shifts gear to drive SDG7 and Paris Climate Agreement

Sustainable Energy for All is the global, multi-stakeholder platform that played a core role in putting universal access to modern energy services at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris climate agreement.

The platform is now shifting gear with a new five-year strategy that will drive action and deliver on those promises.

The Strategic Framework for Results 2016-21, titled ‘Going Further, Faster’, has been backed by the Sustainable Energy for All’s Advisory Board of high-level figures from the public and private sectors and civil society, co-chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.

“The new Sustainable Energy for All strategy provides a powerful tool for delivering on the promises of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. Affordable, clean energy is the golden thread that links economic growth, increased social equity and a healthy environment,” Secretary-General Ban said.

Energy is central to social and economic well-being, yet 1.1 billion people have no access to electricity, while 2.9 billion have to cook with polluting, inefficient fuels such as firewood.

Without rapid progress on SDG7, which calls for “affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all”, it will impossible to deliver on other SDGs by 2030. At the same time, energy is the dominant contributor to climate change.

“To achieve universal access to clean, affordable energy we need to unlock hundreds of billions of dollars in finance,” said President Kim. “This can only happen if we take a truly innovative approach to building public-private partnerships and mobilizing investment. SE4All is well positioned to be a critical player in expanding access to clean and affordable energy to all.”

Meeting this dual challenge – reducing the carbon intensity of energy while making it available to everyone – requires a radical rethink of the way we produce, distribute and consume energy, and this is central to Sustainable Energy for All’s strategic approach.

“We will empower leaders to go further, faster by brokering partnerships and unlocking finance. This will help us secure an energy transition that is clean, affordable and just - because no one must be left behind,” said Rachel Kyte, Sustainable Energy for All’s Chief Executive Officer and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All.

The three objectives of SE4All are to ensure universal access to modern energy services; double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

The new strategy marks a turning point, building on Sustainable Energy for All’s strong advocacy role ahead of the SDGs and Paris Agreement to embark on a new phase where the emphasis is on helping partners to take rapid, tangible action on those agreements.

It states that “Sustainable Energy for All empowers leaders to broker partnerships and unlock finance to achieve universal access to sustainable energy, as a contribution to a cleaner, just and prosperous world for all”.