Deputy Secretary-General, at High-Level Side Event, Lauds New 2030 Agenda’s First-Ever Universal Goal on Sustainable Energy

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at a high-level side event on “Implementing SDG 7: The Role of Partnerships in Ensuring Access to Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable, and Modern Energy for All”, in New York today:

I am honoured to join you at this historic moment.  Not only have the UN Member States just adopted a new transformative Agenda for Sustainable Development.  But, also, with Sustainable Development Goal 7, the United Nations has, for the first time, agreed on a universal goal on energy, with targets on access, renewables, efficiency and means of implementation.

This is great news, not just for the energy community, but for sustainable development as a whole.  We need sustainable energy for everything from ending poverty to combating climate change.  The new 2030 Agenda is universal, involving each and every one of us.  It is based on partnership, since no one actor alone can handle the whole, and it is cross-cutting, tackling economic, social and environmental dimensions as a whole.

Sustainable Energy for All, as a multistakeholder partnership that addresses interrelated issues, provides an effective global framework for the successful implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 7.  The [Sustainable Energy for All] Executive Committee has recently selected Rachel Kyte as the first Chief Executive Officer of the new “Sustainable Energy for All Partnership”.  This not-for-profit organization will be headquartered in Austria.

Ms. Kyte will also be the Secretary-General’s new Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All from 1 January 2016, which is the first day of the post-2015 era.  She will spearhead the UN system’s efforts towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7.  The [Sustainable Energy for All] Advisory Board, co-chaired by the Secretary-General and the President of the World Bank, will continue to provide overall guidance.

Thus, the links between the UN and the new organization will be strong, but at the same time, allow broad participation within the Partnership.

After four years of working with the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, many of you have contributed to laying a foundation for the work ahead.  Commitments made to date, including the European Union’s ElectriFI [eletrifai] and the United States’ Power Africa, already make it conceivable to reduce energy poverty by half by 2030.

Sustainable Energy for All Country Action Agendas and Investment Prospectuses are already being prepared in more than 30 developing countries.  Sustainable Energy for All High-Impact Opportunities gather partners around thematic areas.  For example, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Round Table on Sustainable Biomaterials, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Carbon War Room, KLM, Novozymes [novozaims] and the UN Foundation have partnered to scale up the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy solutions.

In Bangladesh, India, Mali and Mozambique, the Alliance for Rural Electrification and the OPEC [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] Fund for International Development are working together to implement mini-grid projects.  Equally important are the many commendable domestic initiatives, such as Brazil’s successful “Light for All” programme, Saudi Arabia’s planned $109 billion investment in solar energy, and India’s strong commitment to energy access for all by 2019.

At last year’s Climate Summit, we saw the launch of the Africa Clean Energy Corridor and SIDS [small island developing States] Lighthouse initiatives of the International Renewable Energy Agency.  The Summit also launched the Sustainable Energy for All Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform, which will contribute important solutions for the forthcoming critical climate meeting in Paris.

All this gives us a truly global reach.  For instance, the knowledge hub at the World Bank has led the development of a biennial Sustainable Energy for All Global Tracking Framework, supported by more than 20 organizations.  This framework offers an invaluable tool for reviewing progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 7.

We know progress is too slow in some areas of the world, most notably in sub-Saharan Africa.  That is why it is even more encouraging to see the strong leadership in the region, such as during the recent launch of the West African Energy Leaders Group in Côte d’Ivoire.

With such leadership and the foundations that are already laid — and with the continued strong support of all of you — we can have legitimate hope that we will achieve our goals by 2030.  But, it is going to be an arduous work.  We have set the vision and direction.  Now we must take the concrete steps forward in a determined way to the benefit of all.  Thank you.