As the ‘African COP’ progresses in Egypt, and the world counts on its leaders to make crucial climate commitments, ECO wants to know: are you ready to commit to end energy poverty through clean and affordable energy sources and achieve the SDG7 goal of universal energy access?
The reality is stark: 760 million people still lack access to electricity, 2.6 billion lack access to clean cooking fuels, and 1.1 billion lack access to cooling which can help prevent large-scale food wastages. But access to reliable, clean, and affordable energy can help assuage the polycrisis of inflation, food shortages, and rising energy costs currently gripping the world. Reliable energy access can also catalyze development across different areas such as education, health, reducing hunger, improving productivity, and so on which leads to the achievement of many other SDGs. However, the progress so far has not been encouraging!
Between 2019 and 2021, the number of people without access to electricity has not decreased significantly, compared to the 9% average annual decrease seen between 2015 and 2019. In sub‐Saharan Africa, the number of people without access increased in 2020 for the first time since 2013. In addition, the challenges imposed by COVID-19 increased the number of people without access to clean cooking fuels by 1%, putting countries further away from the goal of universal access to clean cooking. An estimated 660 million people will still lack access to electricity, and the world will fall short of its clean cooking target by 30% in 2030. Most of this energy poverty will be concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa.
Meeting the 2030 SDG7 targets calls for investments of approximately US$60 billion each year for the next 8 years. And this is only a small fraction of the multi-trillion dollar global energy investment needed, and one that would bring huge social benefits. Centralized fossil fuel infrastructure is expensive, fuels the climate emergency, and is not resilient to climate disasters, and ECO calls out the myths that are being propagated that building new fossil fuel infrastructure will enhance energy access. Renewable energy, especially decentralized renewables, will play the central role in achieving the SDG7 goal.
ECO is asking the world leaders at Sharm El Sheikh: Are you ready to go beyond rhetoric and take a stand that energy access is a basic human right? Will you commit to deliver on the investment required to eradicate energy poverty by 2030? If yes , then posterity will remember COP27 in Egypt as an “in Africa, for Africa COP” that truly made a difference in the lives of the poor and underserved.