Our highlights from COP27
The headline news coming out of COP27 was a breakthrough agreement to provide “loss and damage” funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters.
But over the course of the climate conference’s two weeks, there were also plenty of outcomes that will bring the world closer to achieving affordable, clean energy for all by 2030. New relationships were forged, and key initiatives were launched aimed at ending energy poverty and supporting climate progress.
Many of these outcomes emerged from events at the SDG7 Pavilion, which we hosted with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). For the second year in a row, the SDG7 Pavilion was the main hub at COP for discussing and showcasing how to unite global efforts on energy, climate and development.
Yet, SEforALL’s involvement at COP27 extended far beyond hosting the pavilion. We were active across the two weeks, with our people speaking at various engagements run by our partners and helping launch major new projects and bodies of work.
Here are some of the major highlights of SEforALL’s engagement at COP27.
Heads of Government/State at the SDG7 Pavilion
On 8 November we were honoured to host H.E. Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, at the Pavilion along with Kate Brandt, Chief Sustainability Officer at Google; and Hastings Chikoko, Managing Director of Regions and Mayoral Engagement and Africa Regional Director at C40. The three were part of a broader session on 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact - Accelerating Decarbonization of the World’s Electricity Grids.
We were honoured to have H.E. Alexander Van der Bellen, President of Austria, pay us a visit on 7 November at the SDG7 Pavilion, meeting with Damilola Ogunbiyi and other leadership team members. With SEforALL’s headquarters in Vienna, we are thankful to the Austrian government’s continued support.
H.E. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi, and H.E. Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of Norway, also attended the launch of GEAPP’s Powering People and Planet report at the pavilion.
Africa Carbon Markets Initiative
The Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) was launched on 8 November with the aim of dramatically expanding Africa’s participation in voluntary carbon markets. The initiative was inaugurated at COP27 in collaboration with GEAPP, SEforALL, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, with the support of the UN Climate Change High Level Champions. Multiple African nations joined the ACMI launch event to announce their commitment to scaling voluntary carbon markets, including the Presidents of Kenya and Malawi.
ACMI aspires to:
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Grow African credit retirements ~19-fold from 2020 to ~300 MtCO2e per annum by 2030 and up to 1.5-2.5 GtCO2e by 2050;
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Create or support 30 million jobs by 2030 and more than 100 million jobs by 2050 through the carbon project development, execution, certification, and monitoring;
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Raise the quality and integrity of African credits to mobilize up to US$6 billion by 2030 and more than US$100 billion per annum by 2050;
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Ensure equitable and transparent distribution of carbon credit revenue, with a significant portion of revenue going to local communities.
Ghana’s Energy Transition Framework and Plan
An event hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Government of Ghana, SEforALL and Bloomberg Philanthropies announced that SEforALL will work with Ghana to develop an Energy Transition Plan, building on the country's existing Energy Transition Framework to chart a detailed, date-driven pathway to meeting the country's energy and climate goals.
The event featured Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, and Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy, and others.
With support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, SEforALL will also be developing Energy Transition Plans for additional countries in Africa and Asia to help them attract critical investments for their energy transitions.
Africa-EU Ministerial Roundtable
Organized by SEforALL and the Africa-Europe Foundation, African and European Ministers met in a closed-door high-level session on Energy Day at COP27. The two continents listened to each other and strategized on how to accelerate Africa’s race towards a just and equitable energy transition while working together as Africa and Europe. This first cross-continental closed-door meeting was built on the SEforALL African Ministerial roundtables that took place earlier in 2022, both in Kigali (SEforALL Forum) and New York (United Nations General Assembly).
The roundtable included ministers and senior representatives from Belgium, Egypt, the European Commission, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, the Netherlands, Portugal, Rwanda, Senegal, Spain, the UAE’s COP28 Presidency and Uganda.
The narrative that emerged demonstrated that Africa and Europe should work together on issues of self-interest that overlap and act on those. The futures of both continents are fundamentally interlinked, and Europe cannot prosper if Africa does not prosper.
Announcements and launches
In addition to the above highlights, there were several other key announcements and launches that took place at the SDG7 Pavilion and elsewhere at COP involving SEforALL. Here is a comprehensive list.
SDG7 Pavilion
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African Alliance for Sustainable Cities and Built Environments
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Chilling Prospects 2022 Special: Delivering Cooling for All, SDG7 and Climate Action
Across COP27
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IBM teams up to help accelerate clean energy transition for vulnerable populations
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Sustainable Urban Resilience for the next Generation (SURGe) Initiative
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New signatories to 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact: ARUP, Xcel Energy, GoNetZero, Westinghouse, NUCOR, Elia Group, Nuclear Electrica, Beltrame Group, Nuscale Power, Pivot Energy
Want to relive some of the action from the SDG7 Pavilion at COP27. All open-door events at the Pavilion were recorded and are available to watch through our COP27 virtual platform.
Also check out our daily photo galleries on Flickr.
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