Joint Statement on the Forum Postponement
Vienna, Austria. May 22, 2024: Today the co-hosts of the Global Forum, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the Government of Barbados, issued a joint statement on the postponement of the SEforALL Global Forum, which will now be held in Bridgetown, Barbados in early 2025. The exact date will be announced in the coming weeks.
The decision to push the date of the global convening to next year enables the co-hosts to facilitate key announcements and commitments that are expected to raise ambitions on the critical energy and climate agendas next year.
“Under Prime Minister Mottley’s leadership, Barbados and SEforALL are committed to a sustainable and just energy transition that provides opportunities for every country to thrive. In the coming months, we will continue to work with governments and partners to achieve our vision of a Global Forum that results in action and concrete outcomes. With just five years remaining on the 2030 global development goals and a highly anticipated COP30, 2025 will be a pivotal yearthat demands a final collective push from all of us. In 2025, we look forward to unveiling new commitments and partnerships to help us breakthrough the impasse that has prevented real progress on climate justice.”
Senator the Honourable Lisa Cummins, Minister of Energy and Business Development, Barbados, and Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN Energy
The SEforALL Global Forum has become the landmark global gathering to drive faster, broader progress towards universal access to sustainable energy as laid out in UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7). It is a platform for government, business and finance leaders, entrepreneurs, and youth and community representatives from around the world to come together to broker new partnerships, spur new investment and address emerging challenges.
Under the theme of “Sustainable Energy for Equity, Security and Prosperity”, the 2025 Forum will focus on catalysing the actions and investment needed for countries to achieve their energy access, climate and development goals.
Building on Prime Minister Mottley’s Bridgetown Initiative for the reform of development finance, the Forum will address the challenge of how we can mobilize sufficient finance on the right terms to meet global goals, unlock energy supply chains to ensure countries meet those goals and to do all this in particular for the most underserved communities, countries and regions – such as Small Island Developing States.