Energy Access
We find ourselves in the ‘energy paradox’, on the one hand it is key to human development, as it is an enabler of many of the other SDGs, while at the same time also the main cause for the increased GHG emission over the past 70-100 years.
The SDG7 aims to address both issues simultaneously by proposing that we all have the right to access to energy as an enabler of development, but this energy must be modern, i.e., it must come from renewable sources and the use must be as efficient as possible in order to reduce the GHG emissions, the only way to protect the planet from the effects of climate change.
SDG7 is therefore pertinent to developing countries, as that is where the lack of access to energy lies, as well as developed and emerging countries, as that is where the highest fossil fuels consumption currently is.
To incorporate all these elements, the SDG7 includes four distinct goals that need to be tackled and improved simultaneous at varying degrees depending on the situation in the given country or location in order to meet the universal access to modern energy goal, namely:
1. Access to electricity
2. Access to clean fuels for cooking
3. Renewable energy
4. Energy efficiency
The collection of Energy Portraits focus on all the different dimensions of SDG 7 such as energy access, its costs and options, its quality, its environmental implications as well as how renewable energy and energy efficiency may offer solutions to the SDG7 challenge. The nexus with other SDGs is given particular focus in the collection and in the narrative within the Project as it recognises the crucial role energy plays in meeting many of the other SDG challenges, such as poverty and hunger (SDG 1 and 2), health (SDG3), education (SDG4), gender equality (SDG5), access to safe water (SDG6), decent work and productivity (SDG8 and 9), equal opportunities (SDG10), sustainable cities and communities (SDG11), responsible consumption and production (SDG12) and climate change (SDG13).
Energy Portraits put the North and the South of the world together around common challenges assuring affordable access to modern energy while protecting the environment from climate change.
Do you want to learn more about the link between Energy and Climate? GO TO WWW.WAME2030.ORG