COP 26 Side Event: Accelerating the implementation of SDG 7 in support of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement: increasing resilience and ensuring no one is left behind

Date and Time: 9 November, between 11:30am – 12:45pm

Venue: Skomer (Multimedia Studio 2) and Virtual

Lead organization: UN-Energy (Lead: UN-Energy secretariat at UN DESA, IAEA, UNITAR, WMO, UNECE, UNESCAP) 

Supporting organization(s): All UN-Energy members: FAO, IAEA, IFAD, World Bank, UNFCCC, UNCDF, UNCTAD, UN DESA, UNDP, UN ESCAP, UN ECA, UN ECE, UN ECLAC, UNEP, UN ESCWA UNESCO, UNFPA, UN-HABITAT, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNITAR, UN-OHRLLS, UN WOMEN, WHO, WMO, UNDP, IOM, UNHCR, WFP

 

Sustainable Development Goal 7 holds a unique position in the nexus between the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. Ensuring universal access to clean energy is necessary for creating sustainable economic growth and development. Although the world has made progress towards achievement of SDG 7 in some areas, current efforts remain well below what is needed to meet the goal by 2030. 

This side-event highlights key outcomes from the High-level Dialogue on Energy convened by the Secretary General in September, including the Global Roadmap, a forward-looking statement for concrete actions, and showcase Energy Compacts, voluntary commitments from Member States and other stakeholders, including companies, regional/local governments, NGOs.Specific actions and guiding principles for the achievement of SDG7 and net-zero emissions, designed to be fully in line with SDG Acceleration Actions and Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement. The event also features actions taken by UN-Energy to support member states and other key stakeholders in accelerating a just energy transition with the goal to leave no one behind, including the most vulnerable - displaced people and their host communities.

The event showcases short-, medium-, and long-term actions committed at the High-level Dialogue representing elevated ambition and focusing on resilience through the following lens:

• Physical resilience: how do we build back better to create reliable, flexible and climate-resilient energy infrastructure that can withstand the more and more damaging extreme weather manifestations? How do we strengthen energy system resilience? How can these energy systems serve in remote locations and environmentally fragile areas of the world?
• Economic resilience: how do we engineer a timely energy transition that delivers growth and jobs? How do we leverage the power of markets, provide a price for carbon to drive investments to clean energy? Do the energy interventions take into account the most vulnerable people in displacement and other fragile areas?
• Social resilience: how do we ensure a just energy transition? How can we best support groups and communities heavily affected, especially displaced people and host communities? How can we best phase-out fossil fuel subsidies while protecting the energy poor? How do we establish mechanisms to ensure the full participation of the most vulnerable such as displacement-affected people?