PROGRESS TOWARDS GOAL 7
The 2023 edition of monitors and assesses attainments in the global quest for universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030. The latest available data and select energy scenarios are set forth in its 2023 report, which finds that, at the mid-point of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, despite some progress across the SDG 7 indicators, the current pace is not adequate to achieve any of the 2030 targets. Although certain policy responses to the global energy crisis appear likely to improve the outlook for renewables and energy efficiency, other necessary policy actions, as well as financial flows, continue to lag. This particularly concerns lacking universal access to electricity and clean cooking in developing economies, which are far off track.
Universal access
SDG target 7.1 is universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy services; with 7.1.1 focusing on access to electricity and 7.1.2 focusing on access to clean cooking solutions. Globally, 91 percent of the population had access to electricity in 2021, leaving 675 million people unserved. To bridge this gap by 2030, the annual growth rate in access must be almost double the current pace. In 2021, some 2.3 billion people—one third of the world population—lacked access to clean cooking. Unless efforts are rapidly scaled up, polluting cooking fuels and technologies will continue to claim millions of lives each year while perpetuating gender inequity, deforestation and climate damage.
Energy efficiency
SDG target 7.3 aims to double the annual global rate of improvement in primary energy intensity in 2010–30 versus 1990–2010 to 2.6 percent. Yet progress between 2010 and 2020 averaged only 1.8 percent. To make up for lost ground, improvement in energy intensity must now exceed 3.4 percent globally from 2020 to 2030 -- twice the rate achieved in the past decade. An even greater improvement would be needed to be on track to limit the end-of-century temperature rise to less than 1.5 degrees C.
Renewable energy
SDG Target 7.2 aims to increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. In 2020, the share of renewable energy in total final energy consumption stood at just 19.1 percent (or 12.5 percent if traditional use of biomass is excluded), not much more than the 16 percent a decade ago. The share of renewables would need to reach well over 33-38 percent of global TFEC by 2030 -- and account for 60-65 percent of power generation -- to be on track to limit temperature rise to less than 1.5 degrees C. On a positive note, developing countries saw a record-breaking renewable capacity growth in 2021, of 9.8 percent year-on-year, yet this growth is unevenly distributed, and further action is needed in the least developed countries.
International public financial flows
Tracking of the SDG 7.a.1 indicator shows that international public financial flows to developing countries in support of clean energy continued to fall through 2021. In 2021, these flows amounted to USD 10.8 billion, an 11 percent drop from 2020, and only about 40 percent of the 2017 peak of USD 26.4 billion. Commitments remain heavily concentrated in a handful of countries. Data released in 2022 and 2023 will provide a clearer picture of the effects on public financial flows of the energy crisis in Europe sparked by the war in Ukraine. While there is no quantitative target for this indicator, IEA and IRENA scenarios estimate that staying in line with international climate and energy goals requires annual investments in renewable electricity generation and related infrastructure of USD 1.4-1.7 trillion through 2030.
Source: Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2023