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The energy access dividend: Our final day of the 2017 Sustainable Energy for All Forum focused on the energy access dividend, with sessions focusing on exploring the dividends that accrue with energy services and the case for going further, faster – together. From looking at the ‘new market’ and assessing whether the private sector can really service the bottom of the pyramid, to how energy providers are increasing productivity through decentralized solutions, the final day of the Forum addressed core issues in how we ensure an energy transition for all, and as Mary Robinson said in a press conference, “how we reach those furthest behind, first.”

Mary Robinson, President and Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, interviewed by Benjamin Steinlechner, Connect4Climate

During the day, 9 of our speakers lined the Forum circular stage to reveal plans for a new people-centered accelerator to advance gender equality, social inclusion and women’s empowerment in the sustainable energy sector. Through this accelerator, partners will work together to progress action towards these three goals, while working with leaders to promote an energy transition supports these people-centered aims and leaves no one behind. The accelerator is due to formally be launched later in the year.

During her closing speech, Rachel Kyte, Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), said “We built this Forum – and every session in it - on an evidence base: a foundation hewn from the latest Global Tracking Framework, the dashboard that we use to measure progress on Sustainable Development Goal #7. It shows us that there are many extraordinary things happening – and happening all around the world. And those things are happening – in very large part – because of the work you, here at this Forum, are doing. And together, we’ve had the courage to interrogate the latest evidence. Because that’s what real movements do.”

Rachel Kyte talked to Connect4Climate. Photo Credits: Max Thabiso Edkins

Inspirational voices

ENERGIA presented the Women Entrepreneurship Awards to five inspirational winners from across Africa and Asia in our final afternoon – with successful entrepreneurs, leaders in their communities and role models for other entrepreneurs all being named winners. The awards recognize outstanding work and encourage the winners to perform even better in the future. Each winner will now receive 1,000 euros for the strengthening of their capacities to run an energy business or for enhancing the profitability of their business.

Shine

An emerging global campaign on energy access, Shine: Investing in Energy Access for All, was also revealed during the final day of this year’s Forum, focusing on diversifying the sources of finance to support energy access. The campaign will unite partners from the faith, development and philanthropic sectors to commit to mobilizing new forms of capital, scaling resources and generating momentum to achieve universal access to clean, affordable and reliable energy by 2030 and support Sustainable Development Goal 7. It was also confirmed during the day's press conference that the World Council of Churches – which brings together churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 110 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 500 million Christians – had committed to join the campaign. 

Sustainable Energy for All Forum venue in New York City. Photo Credits: Max Thabiso Edkins/Connect4Climate

Announcements

The Poor People's Energy Outlook (PPEO) report from Practical Action was launched during the final day, and showed how reforming energy financing can radically hasten energy access. Results showed that poor families in developing countries are being denied access to basic technology and services by financial systems which fail to bring them modern energy.

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Sustainable Energy for All Forum: Day 2 recap​

Sustainable Energy for All Forum: Day 1 highlights

Scaling clean energy solutions is less about technology and more about policies, financing, and local people skills. East Africa is a hot spot for scaling off-grid renewables and there are lots of reasons why. With dozens of iconic companies now going 100 percent renewable, REN21 asks the question, ‘Why not the entire world’? “We’ll arrive at 100 percent renewable energy. The only question is when,” REN21 Executive Secretary Christine Lins told another packed audience.

Christine Lins Executive Secretary REN21, interviewed by Max Thabiso Edkins, Climate Change Expert, Connect4Climate, World Bank Group, at the Sustainable Energy for All Forum

Cheers for Technology

Don’t blame technology for the lackluster progress on achieving the sustainable energy development goals by 2030. Across the board, no matter the region, renewable energy costs are plummeting, especially for solar photovoltaics (PVs), which have dropped in half since 2012. In places like Chile and Dubai in the past year, solar projects are shattering record lows. “They’re outcompeting fossil fuels even without subsidies,” said Ethan Zindler, Head of Americas at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. All regions are benefitting, including Caribbean Islands like Jamaica and Bonaire off Venezuela, which are forsaking high-polluting diesel fuel for cheaper wind power and battery storage. Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda are also benefitting, mostly with pay-as-you-go household solar systems from companies like Off Grid Electric, M-Kopa Solar and Mobisol. Bangladesh is seeing the biggest upside of all.

Thomas Duveau Head of Business Development at Mobisol, interviewed by Max Thabiso Edkins, Connect4Climate

Ivan Shumkov, CEO, Build Academy, interviewed by Benjamin Steinlechner, Communications & Partnerships Strategies, Connect4Climate, at the Sustainable Energy for All Forum

Why East Africa is Working

The SEforAll forum is flooded with solar companies and funders who are finding big success in Kenya, Tanzania, and others East African countries. Most are solar off-grid providers who are taking advantage of ubiquitous mobile phones and mobile money in East Africa to sell their systems. “Mobile money is a key element for our business model,” said Thomas Duveau, head of business development at Mobisol, which has sold 75,000 solar systems in Tanzania and other parts of East Africa. Business-friendly governments are another key. A new Power for All report identifies key national energy policies in Kenya, Tanzania, Bangladesh and two other countries that have helped unleash decentralized solar. “We call them policy accelerators,” report co-author Rebekah Shirley said, citing supportive policies like low tariffs and import fees, local financing support and clear energy access goals.

Other Intangibles for Success

Local capacity and local people skills came up time and time again. Nigerian banker and Dangote Foundation CEO Zouera Youssoufou said Nigeria’s sustainable energy movement needs more women leaders and more local financing from African banks. David Lecoque, policy and development manager at the Alliance for Rural Electrification, talked about local capacity building. “Governments have an important role in developing soft skills, local capacity, so there’s an understanding of these (sustainable) technologies,” he said. Several speakers suggested that foundations support such capacity building. 

"If you look at all the money that's growing into funding renewables and sustainable energy types of things, very little of that funding is African. When you come from the outside and try to tell us what to do or encourage us to do the right thing, you have to make sure that we're also part of the story," Nigerian banker and Dangote Foundation CEO Zouera Youssoufou said

A 100% Renewable Future?

In the wake of the ambitious Paris Climate Agreement, REN21 posed the provocative question: “Is a 100 percent renewable energy future feasible by 2050?” The results of its new report, based on interviews with more than 100 energy experts, are both illuminating and inspiring. Among the key takeaways: 71 percent agreed a transition to 100 percent renewables is feasible and realistic; 72 percent expect at least a tripling in renewable energy, over 50 percent, by 2050; 63 percent expect decentralized renewable energy will dominate over centralized renewable power by 2050.

Announcement

Five new cities and districts joined the Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA), a public-private collaboration that now includes over 35 global organizations and 28 cities in 18 countries. Buildings account for one-third of global energy demand and over one-quarter of global GHG emissions.

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Sustainable Energy for All Forum: Day 1 highlights

Last day highlights from Sustainable Energy for All Forum

We’re making progress on the sustainable energy goals, but not more speed and scale are needed. Energy efficiency holds enormous promise, but it’s not sexy and it lacks capital. Even with the political paralysis in countries like the U.S., cities around the world are making big gains on sustainable energy. Christiana Figueres is still a rock star who evokes urgency like nobody else. “Swallow the alarm clock. The next 3 to 4 years (on climate action) will determine our future,” she told a packed audience of 1,000 in Brooklyn. And Michael Leibrich knows how to close things out.

"There's a very clear equation we can cement into our brains: More carbon equals more poverty; less carbon equals less poverty," Christiana Figueres said.

We Need to Move Faster

The new 2017 Global Tracking Framework report shows only incremental progress on the Sustainable Energy for All goals. While hundreds of millions of people gained access to clean cooking, electricity and renewable energy from 2012 to 2014, more than 1 billion people overall – one of every 7 people on the planet - are still living in the dark with no access to power. Put simply, the world is not on track to meet key UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030: universal access to modern energy services and doubling energy efficiency improvements and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. “Business, as usual, is not good enough. We need speed and scale,” SEforALL CEO Rachel Kyte said, kicking off the three-day forum.

SEforALL CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All Rachel Kyte explains Sustainable Energy for All Forum to Connect4Climate

Nonetheless, the report was chock-full with pockets of progress, among those: 56 million more Indonesians are now cooking with clean fuel instead of high-polluting kerosene; 90 percent of the population in war-torn Afghanistan now has electricity - much of it solar - up from 50 percent only four years ago; off-grid renewables, driven by plummeting prices for wind and solar PVs, are flipping on the lights for tens of millions in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Loving Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency was the only area that saw tangible gains in the report, with China, UK, Mexico, Russia, Italy, Australia, and Nigeria all improving their energy intensity by more than 2 percent a year. Overall, global energy intensity improved by 2 percent a year, but that’s still short of the 2.6 percent annual growth rate needed to meet the 2030 goal. Stronger policies are one of the keys to accelerating gains. “If you don’t have strict regulations, it is very difficult,” said Tanya Muller Garcia, Secretary of the Environment in Mexico City, which has instituted tighter efficiency standards in construction regulations. Another key is more creative financing, whether the green bonds that Mexico City is using or tax credits that Quebec is offering for energy-saving renovations. Still, overall financing levels need to grow by a factor of 3 to 6. Kyte’s solution to all this: “Making energy efficiency sexy again.”

Cities Rule

Who needs national governments when cities can solve the world’s sustainability energy challenges? That was the rallying cry of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Christiana Figueres who are co-chairing the Covenant of Mayors on Climate & Energy, a coalition of thousands of local and regional governments tackling climate change. “The bottom line is local governments, corporate America, and individuals are the ones (pushing low-carbon action),” Bloomberg said. 

"It has become fashionable and profitable to invest in renewables as they are finally starting to pay off. We are going to get more renewable and less fossil fuel and particularly less coal, " Michael Bloomberg stated.

New Announcements

The Microgrid Investment Accelerator, a consortium of partners trying to unlock private capital for energy access, was launched in the morning. It aims to mobilize $50 million of financing, via public-private partnerships, to bring modern energy services to under-served parts of East Africa, India and Indonesia by 2020. Facebook, Microsoft and venture capitalists at Allotrope Partners are among the key players. The South African retail chain Woolworths joined the EP100 campaign aimed at doubling energy productivity by 2020. The Global Environment Facility confirmed its support for SEforAll’s Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator, led by UNIDO and the Carbon Trust.

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Sustainable Energy for All Forum: Day 2 recap​

Last day highlights from Sustainable Energy for All Forum

Global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can be reduced by 70% by 2050 and completely phased-out by 2060 with a net positive economic outlook, according to new findings released today by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Perspectives for the Energy Transition: Investment Needs for a Low-Carbon Energy Transition, launched on the occasion of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, presents the case that increased deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency in G20 countries and globally can achieve the emissions reductions needed to keep global temperature rise to no more than two-degrees Celsius, avoiding the most severe impacts of climate change.

“The Paris Agreement reflected an unprecedented international determination to act on climate. The focus must be on the decarbonision of the global energy system as it accounts for almost two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions,” said IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin. “Critically, the economic case for the energy transition has never been stronger. Today around the world, new renewable power plants are being built that will generate electricity for less cost than fossil-fuel power plants. And through 2050, the decarbonisation can fuel sustainable economic growth and create more new jobs in renewables.

“We are in a good position to transform the global energy system but success will depend on urgent action, as delays will raise the costs of decarbonisation,” added Mr. Amin.

Decarbonisation of global energy system, led by renewables and efficiency, would create economic gains. Photo Credits: Allan F. Castañeda

While overall the energy investment needed for decarbonising the energy sector is substantial – an additional USD 29 trillion until 2050 – it amounts to a small share (0.4%) of global GDP. Furthermore, IRENA’s macroeconomic analysis suggests that such investment creates a stimulus that, together with other pro-growth policies, will:

• boost global GDP by 0.8% in 2050;
• generate new jobs in the renewable energy sector that would more than offset job losses in the fossil fuel industry, with further jobs being created by energy efficiency activities, and;
• improve human welfare through important additional environmental and health benefits thanks to reduced air pollution.

Globally, 32 gigatonnes (Gt) of energy-related CO2 were emitted in 2015. The report states that emissions will need to fall continuously to 9.5 Gt by 2050 to limit warming to no more than two degrees above pre-industrial temperatures. 90% of this energy CO2 emission reduction can be achieved through expanding renewable energy deployment and improving energy efficiency.

Renewable energy now accounts for 24% of global power generation and 16% of primary energy supply. To achieve decarbonisation, the report states that, by 2050, renewables should be 80% of power generation and 65% of total primary energy supply.

The report also describes how the energy sector transition needs to go beyond the power sector into all end-use sectors. Renewables need to account for the majority of power generation in 2050, based on continued rapid growth especially for solar and wind power in combination with enabling grids and new operating practices. But also, the buildings, industry and transport sectors need more bioenergy, solar heating and electricity from renewable sources that substitute conventional energy. Electric vehicles need to become the predominant car type in 2050. Liquid biofuel production must grow ten-fold. High efficiency all-electric buildings should become the norm. Deployment of heat pumps must accelerate and a combined total of 2 billion buildings will need to be new built or renovated. 

The report calls for policy efforts to create an enabling framework and re-design of energy markets. Stronger price signals and carbon pricing can help provide a level playing field when complemented by other measures, and the report emphasizes the importance of considering needs of those without energy access.

The full report can be downloaded here.

Banner photo credits to Mohamed Abdulwahab/Voices4Climate

The year 2016 made history, with a record global temperature, exceptionally low sea ice, and unabated sea level rise and ocean heat, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Extreme weather and climate conditions have continued into 2017.

WMO issued its annual statement on the State of the Global Climate ahead of World Meteorological Day on 23 March. It is based on multiple international datasets maintained independently by global climate analysis centres and information submitted by dozens of WMO Members National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and Research Institutes and is an authoritative source of reference. Because the social and economic impacts of climate change have become so important, WMO partnered with other United Nations organizations for the first time this year to include information on these impacts.

“This report confirms that the year 2016 was the warmest on record – a remarkable 1.1 °C above the pre-industrial period, which is 0.06 °C above the previous record set in 2015. This increase in global temperature is consistent with other changes occurring in the climate system,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

“Globally averaged sea surface temperatures were also the warmest on record, global sea levels continued to rise, and Arctic sea-ice extent was well below average for most of the year,” he said.

“With levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere consistently breaking new records, the influence of human activities on the climate system has become more and more evident,” said Mr Taalas.

The increased power of computing tools and the availability of long term climate data have made it possible today, through attribution studies, to demonstrate clearly the existence of links between man-made climate change and many cases of high impact extreme events in particular heatwaves, he said

Each of the 16 years since 2001 has been at least 0.4 °C above the long-term average for the 1961-1990 base period, used by WMO as a reference for climate change monitoring. Global temperatures continue to be consistent with a warming trend of 0.1 °C to 0.2 °C per decade, according to the WMO report.

“Globally averaged sea surface temperatures were also the warmest on record, global sea levels continued to rise, and Arctic sea-ice extent was well below average for most of the year,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. Photo Credits: Paula Alves Silva/Connect4Climate

The powerful 2015/2016 El Niño event boosted warming in 2016, on top of  long-term climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Temperatures in strong El Niño years, such as 1973, 1983 and 1998, are typically 0.1 °C to 0.2 °C warmer than background levels, and 2016’s temperatures are consistent with that pattern.

Global sea levels rose very strongly during the El Niño event, with the early 2016 values reaching new record highs.  Global sea ice extent dropped more than 4 million square kilometres below average in November, an unprecedented anomaly for that month.

The very warm ocean temperatures contributed to significant coral bleaching and mortality was reported in many tropical waters, with important impacts on marine food chains, ecosystems and fisheries.

Coral Reef in Indonesia. Photo: Carl Gustav/World Bank

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached the symbolic benchmark of 400 parts per millions in 2015 – the latest year for which WMO global figures are available – and will not fall below that level for many generations to come because of the long-lasting nature of CO2.

Noteworthy extreme events in 2016 included severe droughts that brought food insecurity to millions in southern and eastern Africa and Central America. Hurricane Matthew caused widespread suffering in Haiti as the first category 4 storm to make landfall since 1963, and inflicted significant economic losses in the United States of America, while heavy rains and floods affected eastern and southern Asia.

WMO has issued annual climate reports for more than 20 years and submits them  to the Conference of the Parties of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. The annual statements complement the assessments reports that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) produces every six to seven years.

It will be presented to UN member states and climate experts at a high-level action event on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Agenda  in New York on 23 March (World Meteorological Day) hosted by the President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson.

“The entry into force of the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 4 November 2016 represents a historic landmark. It is vital that its implementation becomes a reality and that the Agreement guides the global community in addressing climate change by curbing greenhouse gases, fostering climate resilience and mainstreaming climate adaptation into national development policies,” said Mr Taalas.

“Continued investment in climate research and observations is vital if our scientific knowledge is to keep pace with the rapid rate of climate change,” said Mr Taalas.

The World Bank Group is back again with its Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on climate change - ‘From Climate Science to Action’, starting from May 8^th, 2017.

The new course presents the most recent scientific evidence on climate change. It explores different strategies for low emission and climate resilient development and provides an overview to the Paris Agreement ratification with some reflections on COP22 outcomes. Through interactive video talks, complimented with curated readings, resources, and quizzes, renowned scientists and policy makers from the field will lead you through the course. An active discussion forum on the course would further enhance learning where participants get to exchange knowledge with peers from across the globe. As the course concludes, you will be invited to reflect on what you can do at the national, local, community, and individual level to limit global warming below 2°C and adapt the impacts already occurring.

This MOOC on climate change is taught by:

Alan S. Miller, Principal Climate Change Specialist, World Bank Group

Claudia Barrera, Senior Carbon Finance Specialist, World Bank Group

Get the latest information on climate change and find out what you can do about it. Spread the word through #learnclimate

Enroll now