Damilola Ogunbiyi
Vision
As the world faces ongoing development challenges, access to energy is the key that will help unlock the Sustainable Development Goals. With 2030 growing ever closer, smart use of data, new partnerships, and scaled involvement of the private sector will be paramount for SEforALL’s work.
I’m proud to continue steering SEforALL's focus on closing energy access gaps, showing that a clean energy transition is possible, and working to give everyone the opportunity of a prosperous, dignified, and healthy life.
Latest
Catch Damilola on the newest episode of VoxMedia's Explained: The End of Oil on Netflix, as she discusses the importance of SDG7 and SDG Finance in developing countries to ensure we leave no one behind.
Listen to the OnRenewables podcast The right leader for the right moment: In conversation with Damilola Ogunbiyi
Watch Damilola's interview with Bloomberg: Sustainability Goals and COP26
Follow Damilola Ogunbiyi on Twitter and read her latest tweets below.
Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy, will be the next recipient of the Energy Institute’s (EI) President’s Award.
Social justice in its simplest definition means equal rights and equitable opportunities for all. It is fairness as it manifests in society, and includes fairness in education, healthcare and reproductive rights, employment, housing, and more. But is it possible to bring the principles of social justice into the energy sector?
Be Bold is a global campaign calling on everyone – citizens, governments, businesses, financial institutions and development organizations – to be part of a movement for Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7).
Many initiatives from the past 12 months could very well transform our ability to achieve clean, affordable energy for all – as called for by Sustainable Development Goal 7 – and put us on track to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Biography
Damilola Ogunbiyi is the CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (UN SRSG) for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. She is the recipient of the First Class Order of Zayed II from the UAE President in recognition of her contribution to the success of the climate conference, COP28; she also received the Global Female Leadership Impact (GFLI) Award in 2024 and the Energy Institute President’s Award for 2023, in recognition of her continued role in solving critical global issues. She has been recognized as a trailblazer in her field by numerous publications and globally respected lists, such as Reuters’ Trailblazing Women in Climate and Reuters’ Trailblazing Women in Energy, among others.
With Mrs. Ogunbiyi at the helm, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) has entered into working relationships with over 200 partners, supported over 90 countries globally, and secured commitments of more than $1.3 trillion in energy finance. This has been achieved through programmes such as Universal Energy Facility, Powering Healthcare, Women and Youth at the Forefront, Cooling for All, and Clean Cooking; and innovative initiatives such as UN Energy Compacts, Energy Transition Plans, Universal Integrated Energy Plans, the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI), and the Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative (REMI) among many others. Through her leadership, SEforALL has grown its global influence and country support providing clear pathways to accelerate progress towards universal energy access, ending energy poverty, and advancing the global just and equitable energy transition.
Prior to joining SEforALL, Mrs. Ogunbiyi was the first female Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency where she initiated the Nigerian Electrification Project, a USD 550 million facility which is a joint World Bank and African Development Bank programme that to date has provided energy access to over 5 million people across Nigeria. She also conceptualised the Energizing Economies Initiative, estimated to impact 1.2 million SMEs.
Before joining the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), Mrs. Ogunbiyi was the first female General Manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board. Under her leadership, over 100 megawatts of decentralized energy projects supplying electricity to Lagos State hospitals, schools, and government facilities were completed.
Mrs. Ogunbiyi currently serves as a member of the World Bank’s Private Sector Investment Lab, a member of the Global Leadership Council (GLC) of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), an Advisory Board member of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, a member of the Development Advisory Council of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), a member of the Clean Cooking Alliance Advisory Board, and a member of the Advisory Board of University of Oxford’s Future of Cooling Programme. She was part of the COP28 Advisory Committee, and was Co-Chair of the COP26 Energy Transition Council (ETC).
She is a global leader and advocate for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and is passionate about achieving SDG7, which calls for access to reliable, affordable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030.