DELIVERING A JUST AND EQUITABLE ENERGY TRANSITION.

• Author: Ogunbiyi, Damilola

INTRODUCTION

The clean energy transition is at the heart of addressing numerous challenges: climate risks and vulnerabilities; rising prices of fuel, food, and commodities; and achieving sustainable development for all. But the global response not only continues to fall far short of what is needed, it also perpetuates an unjust and stark divide in the policy mindset of how services should be accessed and delivered globally If we truly want to get to a net-zero future where no one is left behind, there must be a paradigm shift in the way we think about the energy transition. We cannot focus only on decarbonization of existing systems alone; we must think about how people access and consume energy, especially in regions where energy infrastructure does not adequately meet demand, particularly in Africa and Asia. This is critical to both climate action and development.

ENERGY FOR CLIMATE AND DEVELOPMENT

Earlier this year, a report on the progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030, showing that the world is still falling short. (1) Today, there are 733 million people without access to electricity. And 2.4 billion people live without clean cooking solutions. The latest Chilling Prospects report (2) also shows there are about 1 billion people who lack access to sustainable cooling solutions. This has numerous negative implications on health, education, gender equality, economic opportunity, and overall prosperity.

Energy is an essential part of our everyday lives and activities. From a climate perspective, the lack of access to electricity for small businesses forces a reliance on diesel-powered generators, which globally produce emissions equivalent to 1,000 coal-fired power stations. Lack of clean cooking solutions, which impacts nearly one-third of the world's population, contributes to deforestation and results in household air pollution that prematurely kills 3.2 million people a year, a majority of whom are women and children. In a warming world, access to cooling is no longer a luxury, but rather an issue of equity that underpins the ability of people to protect themselves during heatwaves, keep food fresh and nutritious, and cool much-needed medicines and vaccines. Addressing all of these energy poverty issues--as well as achieving SDG 7--must happen on the road to achieving net zero by 2050.

The UN Secretary-General's Global Roadmap (3) issued in September 2021 spotlights this urgency by calling for the achievement of energy access while contributing to net-zero emissions by 2050. The roadmap, a major outcome of the UN High-Level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE), sets an aggressive timeline to ensure 500 million people are connected to electricity by 2025 and one billion gain access to clean cooking. This call is also a strong reminder that energy is a critical enabler for the achievement of other SDGs, more ambitious climate action, and a just and equitable clean energy future.

Yet, while billions suffer the consequences of energy poverty, we are also faced with the impacts of current energy generation, with fossil fuels representing 80% of the total energy supply. Energy accounts for over two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, contributing significantly to the climate crisis. Several reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and others point to our bleak future if we remain in this business-as-usual trajectory. And indeed, we are already experiencing firsthand what this means if we do not urgently address these issues. We are far off track in meeting our net-zero ambition.

More critically, the African continent which is home to nearly one-fifth of the world's population and accounts for less than 3 percent of the world's energy-related carbon dioxide emissions to date is facing more severe impacts of climate change than most other parts of the...