Sustainable Development Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
The Sustainable Development Goals, implemented by the United Nations in 2015, are ambitious goals for the global community created to bring about a better world. The SDGs are based around a set of targets to fulfill by 2030, although it is likely that most of these benchmarks will take much longer to achieve. The SDGs cover everything from food security to gender equality to economic security. SDG 7 is specifically focused on universal Affordable and Clean Energy.
SDG 7 is made up of four main goals to be achieved by 2030: 1) Ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern forms of energy, 2) Substantially increasing the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, 3) Doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency, and 4) Expanding the development of new clean energy technologies. Access to energy is often broken down into two different sections for data accounting: access to electricity and access to clean cooking.
The first goal, expanded access to energy, has been on an upward trajectory for a long time. 90% of people on earth have access to electricity as of 2018, an increase of nearly one billion people from 2010. The vast majority of people who still lack access to electricity reside in Sub-Saharan Africa. Other regions that have previously lacked widespread electricity access, such as Latin America, have made considerable strides in recent years, and Sub-Saharan Africa is the last area where many people live without reliable electricity. However, despite progress on this goal, electrification rates would need to rise significantly to hit the target of 100% access to electricity by 2030 (even without taking the complications of COVID-19 into account).
The issue of clean energy for cooking has proven to be much more challenging to tackle. The goal for 2030 is similar to the target for energy access in general — universal clean energy for cooking. The annual rate of access to clean cooking increased by only 1% between 2010 and 2018, leaving billions of people at risk of developing serious diseases associated with the air pollution caused by burning unclean sources of energy. Unprocessed biomass, coal, charcoal, and kerosene are the four primary polluting energy sources that are used for cooking across the world. They have been shown to lead to higher rates of pneumonia, heart disease, and cancer. Women and children are considered to be more at risk for these issues as they tend to spend more of their time close to polluting stoves. The use of petroleum, natural gas, biogas, or electricity is considered clean compared to these other forms of energy.
Renewable energy numbers across the world fluctuate based on area and based on what is being considered “renewable.” Traditional biomass is a primary source of energy in Sub-Saharan Africa, although it is not a modern renewable energy resource. On the other hand, Latin America shows the largest increase in modern renewable energy use since the introduction of the SDGs. Globally, hydropower is the most significant contributor to modern renewable energy, making up two-thirds of all renewable power generation, but both wind and solar power are also on the rise, mainly in China, Europe, and the U.S. The use of renewable energy is measured in three main areas: electricity, heat, and transport. Heat is where traditional biomass usually dominates, while electricity is the arena for hydroelectric, solar, and wind power. Transportation is the sector where there has been the least amount of growth over the past decade. The slow adoption of electric vehicles and the lackluster performance of biofuels (which are typically mixed with gasoline rather than consumed alone) contribute to this issue.
While there are no specific goals set for the amount of renewable energy that the world should be using by 2030, the current estimates are largely not considered to live up to the goal of a “substantial” increase in the amount of renewable energy being used by the global community as a whole.
The third main goal is increased energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is measured by growth in energy intensity or the amount of energy per unit of Gross Domestic Product. The current average annual rate of energy intensity improvement is around 2.2% per year, which is still far below the 2030 goal of 2.6%. Once again, there are regional differences, with Asia experiencing considerable increases in energy intensity over the past decade. China has been improving at a faster rate than any other country. Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America have the lowest rates of energy intensity increases, which tends to reflect less of a policy or governmental issue and more of an economic one, as the technologies for widespread industrial energy efficiency continue to be relatively expensive. The global rate of improvement is undoubtedly on the rise, but not as quickly as the SDG predictions had hoped. However, the increases in renewable energy presented in the previous section also provide an opportunity for greater energy efficiency, as modern renewable energy is generally more efficient than fossil fuels.
The final goal of SDG is less quantifiable than the others, but the research shows that much more investment into clean, efficient, and renewable energy will be needed in order to achieve even close to the stated goals for 2030. One of the main obstacles is the need to shift money from fossil fuel investments into renewable energy and energy efficiency research. Additional public and private investment will also be necessary, especially for the least developed countries (such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa) to reverse the current trends of improvements centered in wealthier areas of the world.
In general, SDG 7 presents a very optimistic view of the development of energy globally over the next decade. Past success in electrification and energy efficiency rates offers some hope for achieving some of the SDG 7 goals. However, the current statuses of clean cooking and modern renewable energy use are still far below their expected targets, and it will take a concerted effort by the international community to implement programs and policies to encourage investments in these two key areas. More resources devoted to these issues can help countries achieve everything from lowering poverty rates to increasing health outcomes. All countries interested in working to achieve their SDGs should pay careful attention to the significant impact energy, and specifically, renewable energy access can have on a country’s well-being as a whole.
