Leveraging Global Partnerships to Achieve SDG 7: A Case Study of Pakistan

Energy is fundamental to socio-economic growth for the world; but how this energy is generated and distributed would determine whether the world could achieve a sustainable future. There is no denying the fact that energy is one of the primary sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, addressing the climate crisis, sustainable energy lies at the core of both the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Paris Agreement. Among other goals, SDG 7 calls for affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030 (UNDP, 2017). Globally, about 1.2 billion people lack access to electricity. The situation is more dire for clean cooking with about 2.8 billion people – 30% of the world’s population – lacking access (Sustainable Energy for All, 2020). The fact is that the energy use in developing countries would continue to increase (Catherine, Orie, & Paul, 2012). This growth could provide an opportunity for the deployment of renewable energy sources, as well as the creation of new, more efficient energy infrastructure. Unfortunately, for developing countries, the clean energy solutions are neither affordable nor accessible, even with the decline in the cost of renewable energy technologies. As a result, many global initiatives and partnerships, such as Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Green Climate Fund (GCF) have been established and working towards achieving this goal (Global Environment Facility (GEF), 2017). However, there is still a need to emphasize and reinforce this partnership to achieve the universal energy access by 2030. The world community has developed many platforms and financing mechanisms to transfer the resources from industrialized nations to developing countries, such as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under Kyoto protocol (UNFCCC, 2012). However, these mechanisms have not been really effective in encouraging investments in clean energy due to low carbon pricing. Hence, this necessitates for international community to come forward for the development of innovative assistance programs for developing nations by investing more resources to achieve SDG 7. Therefore, to accelerate the clean energy transition, global parternerhips and technological platforms will be needed to make clean energy investment economically competitive and viable. This work presents a case study on Pakistan’s response to achieve the SDG 7 under the UN global mission of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) program. It discusses the key milestones, barriers and lessons learnt on SDG 7. Based on the experiences of Pakistan, this work explores viable alternatives of financing mechanisms to accelerate sustainable energy. The paper concludes with key recommendations as to how global partnership could unleash the technological and financial opportunities in achieving ambitious and universal goals of sustainable energy.

Introduction

The energy transition is an unprecedented challenge for the world. It is unprecedented in its global ambition and in its complexity. In the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development it is formulated as ‘Achieving Sustainable Energy for All’.

Enabling Policies for Advancing Sustainability of Electricity Access Programs

As 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity globally, the challenge of ensuring universal electricity access in accordance with the Sustainable Energy for All initiative remains herculean. This chapter maps policy linkages, identifies the gaps in policies and recommends options for developing the enabling environment. The chapter suggests that the policy environment governing electricity access at present is weak and that improvements are required to deliver a sustainable outcome. Although grid extension remains the preferred mode of electrification in many countries, it is not the least-cost option in remote areas where decentralized off-grid solutions may be required. Successful promotion of off-grid solutions would require a clear regulatory environment, a non-discriminatory support mechanism for various stages of a project, financing options, policy co-ordination and linkage with other economic activities for rural development. The chapter concludes that capacity remains weak and non-transparent policy lobbying can distort the development of an enabling environment.

A Comprehensive Review on Status of Solar PV Growth in Uganda

Uganda is faced with a challenge of huge energy deficit just like many other developing countries in Africa. Currently, only 26.7% of the total population has access to electricity. Energy being the life – blood of any growing economy, subsequent endeavors and strategies need to be put in place in order to expand the use of renewable energies for socio-economic development and environmental sustainability. Uganda being endowed with plenty of solar energy resource, its role in achieving national ambitions of Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) cannot be underestimated. This paper therefore reviews the growth of Solar Photovoltaics (PV) in Uganda that was birthed in the 1980’s and continues to mature steadily today contributing 4.24%(50MW) to the national grid with several un documented off – grid systems. This progress has been realized under different market segments inclusive of the pico and macro solar home systems, Institutional PV, mini-grids, telecommunications and street lighting. Notwithstanding the prevalent challenges, there are numerous existing opportunities for solar PV development consisting of the financial, environmental, Institutional and the socio-economic factors. With more government and different stakeholder engagement however, this growth in the country could be accelerated further as the costs of the technology continue to plummet.

Clean Energy, its Prospect and Challenges in India: A Literature Review

The survey primarily deals with the evaluation of green technology development in India. With the depletion of fossil fuels resources, increase of supply security issues, and menace of climate change; clean energy through green technology may offer the best possibilities and outlook for their long-term replacement. The United Nations designated the decade 2014–2024 as the “Decade of Sustainable Energy for All”. Achieving feasibility in energy employment is expected to create a cleaner environment, broader access to electricity, better energy efficiency, and result in greater investment in green technology. Clean energy initiative is not only to substitute the conventional source of energy, but for protecting the mother earth for the future mankind. Emblematic lantern and the oil lamp were the most prominent sources of light at nights for Indians when it achieved independence as it was suffering from severe electricity deficit. However scenario has changed after six decades. As per census 2011, out of 191.9 million household 107.2 million households were electrified. India is, however, aiming high in this domain, with a target to attain 175 GW of installed renewables capacity by 2022 which include 100 GW of solar, 60 GW of wind, 10 GW of bio power and 5 GW of small hydro-power. This survey has taken up to trace the research trends in India to fulfill the mission to almost substitute the conventional energy.

Strategies in Promoting Eco-policies: The Case of Toyama City, Japan

Despite its relatively small population size and limited resources, Toyama City, Japan has been successful in promoting its eco-policies. Because of its substantial work and efforts to address environmental and socio-economic issues, the city was designated as an eco-model city in 2008 and eco-future city in 2011 by the Japanese government as well as a model city of the United Nation’s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative in 2014 and the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient City Initiative in 2014. Through literature reviews and interviews with personnel from the Environmental Policy section at Toyama City Hall, this article describes Toyama City’s eco-policies and examines how the city has succeeded in promoting eco-policies at both national and international levels. This study may provide other eco-cities with some insights to promote their eco-policies: Toyama City’s case can promote good practices and sound expertise for other cities around the world that have faced similar problems and share lessons learned.