Session 1 - SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

About the event

The evidence-based 2022 UNECE Policy Brief on SDG7 confirms positive trends, though recognizes that the region is falling short on the broader role that energy must play in the quest for a sustainable future. The changing energy backdrop adds urgency to advance SDG7 targets to maintain reliability and efficacy of energy systems, including by addressing policy issues around the supply chains that will underpin the green transition.

The roundtable will address interlinkages of energy with other SDGs and will discuss how to design more resilient and environmentally sound energy systems in a holistic manner in support of the 2030 Agenda. It will consider, among other, the following priority actions:

1. Maximize the implementation of energy efficiency solutions
2. Accelerate renewable energy uptake.
3. Manage resources effectively and sustainably, with circularity considerations and based on internationally agreed environmental, social and governance standards.
4. Accelerate the deployment of low- and zero-carbon technology to decarbonize the energy system over time.
5. Leverage finance for a low-carbon, resilient energy system

The peer learning session will aim to bring together a variety of stakeholders to share different perspectives, experiences, and expertise in connection with the broad range of issues related to the SDG 7 targets, cognizant of national development aspirations. The objective would be to share concrete experiences and insights on specific immediate actions that policymakers may consider for managing energy supply and demand in a sustainable manner while leaving no one behind, to achieve higher systemic efficiencies, to ensure overall net benefits to the energy system and its actors throughout the value chain, and to reinforce the ability of energy systems to absorb shocks and recover, among other taking advantage of applicable digital solutions, to ultimately make energy systems more sustainable, and envisage a proper planning in managing critical raw materials needed in a future energy system.