Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to thank IRENA for the opportunity to address this Ministerial Meeting on Energising Healthcare.
Energy is key to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Universal access to clean, affordable and modern energy services is indispensable to eradicate poverty, empower women, achieve many other SDGs and leave no one behind.
At the same time, to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, we need to rapidly accelerate energy transitions even as we expand energy access. As the world struggles with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the interlinkages between energy and healthcare have become clear.
Energy services are essential for responding to the pandemic. These include powering healthcare facilities, keeping the required temperature for medicines and vaccines, and supplying clean water for hand washing.
Distributing solar power and energy efficient medical devices hold great potential for creating stronger and more resilient health systems, especially in rural areas.
But while we have made significant progress in recent years, close to 800 million people still lack access to electricity.
At the same time, let us not forget the disastrous impact of household air pollution on millions of people around the world. Every year, around four million people die, due to the smoke caused by burning wood and charcoal for cooking and heating. Women and children are disproportionally affected.
We cannot achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on health and gender, if 2.8 billion people still lack access to clean cooking solutions. Indeed, we must dramatically scale up action to achieve SDG 7 to ensure universal energy access and clean energy transitions.
This is why the 缅北禁地General Assembly has mandated the Secretary-General to convene a High-level Dialogue on Energy this year. It will be the first global meeting on energy under the auspices of the General Assembly, in the past 40 years.
The Dialogue will focus on five themes:
1. Energy access;
2. Energy transition;
3. Energy action to advance other SDGs, including SDG 3 on health;
4. Capacity building and data; and
5. Finance and investment
As the Dialogue Secretary-General, I call upon all stakeholders to engage in the Dialogue preparatory process. It is imperative to bring practical solutions for a sustainable energy future for everyone.
We will need to pull our collective strength to achieve a future in which everyone has access to energised healthcare and clean household air.
The Health and Energy Platform of Action is co-convened by 缅北禁地DESA, UNDP, WHO and the World Bank. We thus have at our disposal a global mechanism for cooperation by all stakeholders on this crucial interlinkage.
Excellencies,
A revitalised UN-Energy will strengthen coordination within the 缅北禁地system and collaboration with IRENA and other strategic partners.
IRENA’s leadership and analytical capacity will continue to be critical to catalyse action towards the achievement of SDG7.
Let us now, together, set the stage for action.
Thank you.