Partnership key to reaching sustainable energy goal

The new global goal on sustainable energy can be achieved but the road ahead will be tough and partnerships will be crucial, speakers agreed at an SEforALL high-level event on implementing SDG 7, held on the sidelines of the UN Sustainable Development Summit. Opening the gathering to a packed room early on a Sunday morning, Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen said the necessary transformation of energy systems was too great a challenge to be overcome by a single actor. “We need partnerships – partnerships like SEforALL,” he said. “The SEforALL initiative can serve as an anchor for our efforts to handle the energy challenge in the future. It is important to keep this issue high on the public agenda and the political and international agenda, and to increase the involvement of the private sector – also after the COP in Paris.” World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said SDG 7 was “ready for business” and could help the world to achieve the other Sustainable Development Goals. “We have clear targets; we have an action plan to meet them; thanks to SEforALL we have buy-in from governments, civil society and the private sector; and we have robust measurement tools,” he said. “We have our work cut out for us (but) given the benefits at stake, we cannot miss this opportunity.” UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson urged participants to “get away from the vertical, silo way of working” and forge horizontal partnerships across sectors. “We can have legitimate hope that we will achieve our goals by 2030. But it is going to be an arduous work,” he said. “We have set the vision and direction. Now we must take the concrete steps forward in a determined way to the benefit of all.” The event, “Implementing SDG 7: the role of partnerships in ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all,” was hosted by the Government of Denmark and the Sustainable Energy for All initiative on 27 September at UN Headquarters in New York.   For fuller coverage, see: IISD Gallery, IISD Bulletin  

Event Videos

Jan Eliasson (Deputy Secretary-General) at Implementing Sustainable Development Goal 7 (8:35 Min)

 

Implementing Sustainable Development Goal 7 - Part 1 (2:58:02 Hrs)

 

Implementing Sustainable Development Goal 7 - Part 2 (2:28:10 Hrs)