2018 in review: Seven SEforALL highlights
2018 was another busy year for Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and its partners in driving action to meet Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) -- universal and sustainable energy access -- by 2030.
Yet significant challenges remain if we’re to deliver universal energy access at the speed and scale needed to meet SDG7 on time. Just under one billion people globally are still living without electricity and three billion lack access to clean fuels for cooking.
Despite these challenges, data and evidence released by SEforALL and partners throughout the year provided crucial insights on where leaders should focus their efforts, so we can all go further, faster and together in making more progress in 2019.
Here are our 7 key highlights from this year that show how SEforALL and our partners are advancing progress on global energy goals.
1. THE SEforALL FORUM: MARKING A KEY SHIFT ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY’S ROLE IN DELIVERING THE SDGS
The Sustainable Energy for All Forum took place this year in Lisbon, Portugal, under the theme of “Leaving No One Behind’. The Forum focused on addressing the key challenges in delivering universal energy access to meet SDG7 targets.
Over 800 participants from nearly 100 countries attended the Forum, with 10 Ministerial-level speakers joined by CEO’s, investors and civil society leaders.
Speaking via video in his opening address, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, told delegates: “Far more needs to be done to advance renewable and efficient energy in all sectors. From industries to transportation, from cities to rural areas…Let us invest in the future, not the past.”
To underscore the urgency needed in addressing the energy access gap, the Forum was the launch platform for the new Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report – a global scorecard on energy access progress. The report, which assessed the status of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and access to clean cooking and electricity, showed that the world as a whole remains off track to meet 2030 energy targets at the current pace. But there was also progress in countries where political leadership and finance is being prioritized. Read the SEforALL blog on the report here.
At the Forum, SEforALL and Energia, released a new report, Equity, Energy and Economic Empowerment: 6 Global Trends Critical to Closing Gender-Related Energy Access Gaps. A new “Faces of Energy” website with Energia was also launched just ahead of the Forum to provide the first-ever interactive global view on gender and socially inclusive sustainable energy efforts.
SEforALL also signed partnership agreements with Total, the French energy group; Danfoss, a global leader in cooling technologies, and the Islamic Development Bank.
Read our blogs on the Day 1 and Day 2 proceedings in Lisbon.
View our highlights video from the 2018 SEforALL Forum