SDG 7

Recently, the Tracking SDG 7 – The Energy Progress Report 2022 was released which showed that the Russia-Ukraine war and Covid-19 crisis have considerably slowed down efforts towards attaining the Seventh Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 7) target.
The Energy Progress Report is a product of close collaboration among the five SDG 7 custodian agencies in the form of a specially constituted Steering Group:
SDG 7 has a target of universal access to clean and affordable energy by 2030.

The annual SDG 7 tracking report includes the official dashboard of global, regional and national progress on four key energy targets:

1: Ensuring universal access to electricity and clean cooking solutions,
2: Substantially increasing the share of renewable energy,
3: Doubling progress on energy efficiency,
A: Increasing international collaboration in support of clean and renewable energy.

Findings

The share of the world’s population with access to electricity rose from 83% in 2010 to 91% in 2020, increasing the number of people with access by 1.3 billion globally.
The number without access declined from 1.2 billion people in 2010 to 733 million in 2020.
However, the pace of progress in electrification has slowed in recent years which may be explained by the increasing complexity of reaching more remote and poorer unserved populations and the unprecedented impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At current rates of progress, the world will reach only 92% electrification by 2030.

Recommendations

Meeting the 2030 target requires increasing the number of new connections to 100 million a year.
A multisectoral, coordinated effort is needed to achieve the SDG 7 target of universal access to clean cooking by 2030.
It is critical that the global community learns from the successes and challenges faced by countries that have attempted to design and implement clean household energy policies.
Ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy implies accelerated deployment of renewable energy sources for electricity, heat, and transport.
Renewable shares need to reach well over 30% of ‘total final energy consumption’ by 2030, up from 18% in 2019, to be on track for reaching net-zero energy emissions by 2050.
The rate of energy efficiency needs to be higher—consistently over 4% for the rest of this decade—if the world is to reach net-zero emissionsfrom the energy sector by 2050.
International Financial Flows: Energy efficiency policies and investment need to be scaled up significantly to bring the SDG 7.3 target within reach.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT

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