Wind turbines along the coastal highway in Yangcheng, China. Decade of Sustainable Energy: Were the Goals Achieved? Sustainable Development Goals
The Decade of Sustainable Energy, launched in 2014, is coming to an end. His main goal was to ensure that everyone on the planet could benefit from innovations in this area and improve their living conditions. There has been some success along this path, but it has not been possible to fully achieve the set goals, noted the head of the General Assembly, opening the next meeting within the framework of the Sustainable Development Week.
General Assembly President Dennis Francis believes that over the past years, humanity has realized the potential of sustainable energy. The share of renewable energy capacity in developing countries has grown significantly over the past decade, reaching 38 percent in 2021, he said.
In developing countries, Francis continued, annual growth in renewable energy installations averages 9.6 percent. Since 2015, the proportion of the world’s population with access to electricity has increased from 87 to 91 percent.
Additionally, 71 percent of the world’s population had access to clean cooking fuels and technologies in 2021, up from 64 percent in 2015. “These figures are clear evidence of our determined efforts to empower people around the world and protect the environment,” the head of the General Assembly emphasized.
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Still the pace, he noted that the pace of energy transition is still too slow, and the benefits are distributed unfairly: only in In the least developed countries, 473 million people live without electricity. Another two billion people on the planet rely on fuels that are harmful to their health.
In addition, energy consumption remains the dominant factor contributing to climate change, accounting for about 60 percent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.
Francis called for change to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy, with increased share of renewable energy sources in the global energy mix.
This, he said, requires investment, as well as strengthening and expanding partnerships and international cooperation.