Energy Compacts

The Energy Compacts – voluntary, trackable commitments – were launched by UN-Energy at the High-Level Dialogue on Energy convened by the UN Secretary-General in September 2021. The Energy Compacts are designed to spur action towards achieving net-zero while advancing universal energy access. Close to 200 commitments were submitted by governments, corporations, international organisations, philanthropies, and a range of other stakeholders towards achieving SDG7 and the clean energy transition.

In 2022, the Energy Compact Action Network was launched to match commitments made through the Compacts by pairing offers of support with requests for support towards enabling these entities to achieve their stated goals.

The Energy Compacts will be positioned as a high-impact initiative at the SDG Summit in September 2023 and beyond, aiming to further build and strengthen partnerships in support of raising achieving commitments and implementing the Secretary-General’s Global Roadmap for Accelerated SDG7 Action in support of the 2030 Agenda and net-zero emissions.

Energy Compacts aim to support the Secretary-General’s call to action to governments and private sector by capturing the steps that need to be taking by our energy systems towards the nexus of climate and development. In August 2022, the first annual progress review was conducted across the Compact community to track progress.

Energy Compact commitments

• The Health Facility Electrification Compact committed to providing 25,000 health facilities with sustainable access to a clean and reliable power source by 2025. Partners include USAID/Power Africa, Shell Foundation, SEforALL, UNDP, UNICEF, IRENA, Denmark, GAVI and SELCO Foundation.
• The 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact led by Google and SEforALL and in partnership with over 160 other partners including the USA, Panama, Costa Rica, Vanuatu, Kenya, Scotland, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Electric, EDP, Ørsted, Climate Group, and Energy Tag, is committed to transforming global electricity grids to ‘absolute zero’. See the full list of signatories here.
• National Energy Compacts from 35 governments collectively, including India, Germany, Nauru, Denmark, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, United States and UAE. 
• No new coal: Sri Lanka, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany; United Kingdom and Montenegro committed to ceasing new permits and new construction for unabated coal.
• Green hydrogen: 29 Compacts were submitted from across sectors, totalling 268 GW of new renewable energy capacity and 129 GW of new electrolyzer capacity by 2030. 
• Clean cooking: The Netherlands Government and a coalition of 25+ businesses, NGOs and foundations committed to supporting access to clean cooking for 45 million people, access to electricity based on renewable energy for 100 million people, and a doubling of job opportunities in the energy transition for women and youth, all by 2030. 
• The US Government committed to decarbonize the DFC investment portfolio and mobilize USD 25 billion in public sector commitments from Power Africa’s development partners and development institutions. 
• Enel committed to reaching 5.6 million new electricity connections by 2030, speed up its coal phase-out to 2027, triple renewable energy generation to 145 GW by 2030 and provide more than 4 million EV charging points and 10,000 electric buses by 2030. 
• The Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with IKEA Foundation, committed USD 1 billion in philanthropic capital to scale the distributed renewable energy sector to end energy poverty and combat the climate crisis. 

For the latest updates see the Energy Compact Registry.