SEforALL spotlights proven solutions to end energy poverty and accelerate a clean energy transition at UNGA79

Each year, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) offers an unparalleled opportunity to engage with global leaders from across different sectors whose political will and commitment are essential to achieving clean energy transitions. Our unique relationship with the UN brings us access to world leaders and decision-makers, allowing us to highlight solutions for them to support.

This year’s UNGA featured a Summit of the Future that saw world leaders adopting the Pact for the Future, which aims to ensure that the United Nations and other key multilateral institutions can deliver a better future for people and planet.

For Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), this year’s UNGA was an opportunity to highlight the need to accelerate action on the global energy transition, specifically in developing countries, where we need urgent action to end energy poverty, advance action on climate change and power livelihoods.

Here is a summary of our key activities in and around this year’s UNGA.

Raising ambition on SDG7

Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) hosted a ‘Raising Ambition on SDG7’ event together with partners Enel Corporation and Africa50, focusing on global support towards an energy transition that ends energy poverty, combats climate change and powers livelihoods.

This event saw key leaders including Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations; H.E. Birame Soulèye Diop, Senegal’s Minister of Energy, Oil and Mines; Ambassador André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, Brazil’s Secretary for Climate, Energy and Environment; and Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy; among others, calling on global leaders to increase the scale and ambition of sustainable energy investments and projects.

The event showcased proven solutions to deliver progress on a just and equitable energy transition, with a special focus on mobilizing finance and promoting distributed renewable energy solutions as key levers to ending energy poverty and ensuring emerging and developing countries are equipped to transition their energy systems in a just and equitable manner.

More on this event here: https://www.seforall.org/news/global-initiatives-to-end-energy-poverty-and-ensure-a-just-transition-unveiled-at-seforall

Showcasing energy compacts and their impact

As a partner in UN-Energy, we showcased Energy Compacts as a High-Impact Initiative for achieving SDG7 during sessions at the SDG7 Action Forum. The growing impacts of these voluntary commitments on SDG7 were also captured in detail in the third edition of the Energy Compacts Annual Progress Report, which we launched on the opening day of this Forum.  

The report shows that the total investment pledged towards SDG7 under the energy compacts now stands at USD 1.4 trillion and has enhanced electricity access for 177 million people and led to 254 gigawatts of installed renewable energy capacity.

However, progress in clean cooking access remains slower, with 23 million people gaining access between 2021 and 2024, which underscores the need for intensified efforts to accelerate growth in this area.

SEforALL will continue to work with our UN-Energy partners to secure new Energy Compacts, attract new signatories to current compacts, and advocate for existing signatories to increase their ambition. Furthermore, we see potential linkages between the Energy Compacts and the process by which national governments are preparing to submit stronger climate commitments and plans, in the form of enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, in the leadup to COP30 in 2025.

More on the Energy Compacts here: https://www.seforall.org/news/energy-compact-commitments-for-achieving-sustainable-energy-goals-reach-usd-14-trillion

Unveiling a new SDG7 backsliding analysis

To mobilize greater support for low- and middle-income countries, we unveiled a detailed analysis that raises the alarm on the global energy goals under SDG7, highlighting that they are dangerously off track.

The study shows that progress towards universal electricity access, is on the brink, with anticipated population growth and resource constraints likely leaving a large number of people, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa, without electricity beyond 2030.

On access to clean cooking, if we exclude progress made by three Asian countries – India, Indonesia and China – the number of people without clean cooking access in the rest of the world has increased since 2017. The story in Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly critical where only 5 of the 45 countries analyzed show strong progress.

On renewable energy, progress has been skewed with wealthier countries on aggregate making greater progress than lower income and low energy consuming countries. On energy efficiency improvements, stronger actions are needed to reach the 2030 goal.

The study calls for leaders to raise their ambition for a clean energy future by committing to trackable commitments such as the energy compacts.

More on this study here: https://www.seforall.org/data-stories/sdg7-backsliding

Strengthening ongoing work on critical minerals

Our work with partners aims to ensure the Global South prospers and is not left behind in the race for critical minerals to meet the world’s clean energy and decarbonization objectives. To achieve this, we support the UN Secretary General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, where SEforALL is a Technical Advisory Group member; and we collaborate on green industrialization between developing countries with the Council for Critical Minerals Development in the Global South.

The Council is an initiative of SEforALL, the Institute of Transportation Studies at University of California, Davis and Swaniti Global, and it is the first-of-its-kind Global South-led platform on critical minerals for energy transitions; bringing together governments and other partners into a unique collaborative partnership to ensure the development of an equitable minerals value chain and access to clean technologies for securing their own energy transitions.

At UNGA, the Council formally welcomed the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), bringing the voices and perspectives of 16 Member States from Africa. The Council and AMSG will work collaboratively to deliver state-of-the-art data and analytics, strengthen capacity building efforts, facilitate partnerships and collaboration, and amplify the voices and priorities of the Global South at international and regional fora, including COP and G20.

More on the critical minerals work here: https://www.seforall.org/news/africa-minerals-strategy-group-joins-the-council-for-critical-minerals-development

Strengthening carbon market integrity and showcasing in-country support

At this year’s UNGA, there was a dedicated Voluntary Carbon Markets Day, where SEforALL, through the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI), announced strategic partnerships with three key stakeholders in the African carbon market ecosystem: Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA).

These partnerships underscore ACMI’s commitment to prioritizing transparency, inclusivity, and ethical trading of carbon credits – the foundational elements of strong market integrity. Through collaboration, ACMI will further promote the importance of these principles among market actors, ultimately fostering greater trust and confidence in African carbon markets.

ACMI and SEforALL supported the Nigeria government to launch the Nigeria Carbon Market Framework at UNGA. This Framework is designed to create a structured and transparent system for carbon trading that facilitates participation of governments, businesses, NGOs, and local communities, contributing to financing Nigeria's energy, climate and development goals within its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

More on ACMI’s strategic partnerships here: https://africacarbonmarkets.org/africa-carbon-markets-initiative-announces-strategic-partnerships-and-secretariat-establishment-to-enhance-market-integrity-and-facilitate-green-growth/

SEforALL’s CEO awarded for her leadership and unwavering commitment to sustainability

On the sidelines of UNGA, our CEO, Damilola Ogunbiyi, received the First Class Order of Zayed II in recognition of her contribution to the COP28 International Advisory Committee and her support for reaching the “UAE Consensus” as well as the overall success of COP28 held in the UAE in late 2023.

Other award recipients included Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados; Espen Barth Eide, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway; Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment of Singapore; Michael Bloomberg, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Climate Ambition and Solutions; among others.

At UNGA, Damilola also received the Global Female Leadership Impact (GFLI) Award, in recognition of her strategic and compassionate leadership and advocacy, addressing critical global issues, driving positive social or environmental change, and shaping global policies and practices to make a tangible difference in the world.

Building momentum to G20, the SEforALL Forum and COP30

With G20 meetings around the corner, we provided a platform for Brazil’s announcement of a G20 Just Energy Transition Compact, which establishes a set of principles for a just and equitable energy transition. Expected to formally launch after the G20 Energy Ministerial in October, this Compact has been supported by SEforALL and is expected to unite stakeholders of all kinds so that emerging and developing countries start getting the support they need to transition their energy systems.  

Finally, at UNGA, Ambassador Corrêa do Lago, Brazil’s Secretary for Climate, Energy and Environment, formally announced that the SEforALL Global Forum in Barbados taking place from 12 – 13 March 2025 would be the first official milestone on the road to COP30.

Stay tuned for more updates on SEforALL’s engagements at the G20 and COP29, in the coming weeks. You can follow us on our various social media platforms.