Global leaders and businesses discuss universal energy access

The Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll) Forum will address the key challenges in ensuring “no one is left behind” in the energy transition

Ministers, business leaders, investors and civil society are gathering in Lisbon, Portugal today to discuss how universal energy access can be achieved at a faster pace.

The Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll) Forum – which brings together more than 800 participants from nearly 100 countries – will address the key challenges in ensuring “no one is left behind” in the low carbon energy transition.

It aims to provide solutions to ensure energy is accessible to the billion people globally who are still living without basic modern energy services, such as electricity and the three billion who lack access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking.

The Forum’s latest energy progress report on delivering the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) found the world remains “off track” to meet 2030 energy targets but progress is being made in certain countries where political leadership and finance are being prioritised.

It adds while renewable energy is making “impressive gains” in the electricity sector, they are not being matched in transportation and heating – which together account for 80% of global energy use.

Rachel Kyte, CEO of SEforAll and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All said: “The world has committed to leave no one behind. To keep this promise as we move through the energy transition, we need to think differently about how we deliver affordable, reliable and clean energy services.

“Every year of delay in providing energy access is a lost year, a lost opportunity, for millions of children and their families. Countries cannot afford to leave entire generations behind when there are solutions that deliver affordable, clean energy services today.”

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