A multi-stakeholder forum brought together decision makers and practitioners in support of “driving momentum and mobilizing action” to achieve SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) by 2030. The ENERGYNOW SDG7 Action Forum 2024 showcased the Energy Compacts – voluntary, trackable commitments designed to incentivize energy action in line with net-zero goals.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary report of the meeting notes that USD 1.4 trillion in investment has been committed to date to over 200 Energy Compacts.

Setting the scene, the ENB report notes that participants acknowledged the role of the climate crisis, ongoing conflicts, and a constrained global economic outlook in compounding the “fragility of past hard-earned progress” on the SDGs. They underscored that while there is still time to realize SDG 7, “efforts must be ramped up and accelerated as energy is critical for meeting the rest of the SDGs, as well as the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.”

The Action Forum’s programme featured close to 20 sessions as well as the launch of the Energy Compacts Annual Progress Report 2024.

The first day of the Forum focused on the theme, ‘Energizing Sustainable Development,’ and included a session on distributed renewable energy technologies in rural and remote areas. Many speakers discussed the energy transition and made suggestions on how energy could be addressed in a post-2030 agenda, which the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is expected to take up in 2027. Several participants highlighted Mission 300 as a goal to bring electricity access, by 2030, to 300 million people in Africa, which is home to the majority without it.

The Forum’s second day included discussions on the theme of ‘Creating Pathways for Investments.’ A high-level ministerial segment discussed ways for the significant critical mineral resources in Africa to benefit Africans.

The final day explored ways of ‘Accelerating a Just and Inclusive Energy Transition.’ Sessions focused on universal energy access, digitalization, and gender, among other relevant aspects.

The ENERGYNOW SDG7 Action Forum 2024 convened from 25-27 September 2024, in New York, US. UN-Energy organized the Forum, with support from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). The Forum took place on the sidelines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), just after the Summit of the Future (SoF). [ENB Coverage of ENERGYNOW SDG7 Action Forum 2024]