Peace Boat participates in the 3rd Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll) Forum
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In an effort to raise awareness about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on SDG #7 for clean and affordable energy for all, Peace Boat joined leaders from International organizations, United Nations delegates, CEO’s of energy corporations and civil society representatives for the 3rd Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll) Forum in New York City, from April 3-5. The goal of this forum was to discuss innovative ideas on how to make progress on the sustainable energy goals by increasing our speed and scale as a global community.
Conference attendees agreed that we need to move faster as the new 2017 Global Tracking Framework report shows only incremental progress on the Sustainable Energy for All goals. While hundreds of millions of people gained access to clean cooking, electricity and renewable energy from 2012 to 2014, more than 1 billion people overall – one of every 7 people on the planet – are still living in the dark with no access to power. “Business, as usual, is not good enough. We need speed and scale,” SEforALL CEO Rachel Kyte said, kicking off the event.
The SEforAll Forum also examined the energy access dividend, with sessions focusing on exploring the dividends that occur with energy services and the case for going further, faster – together. From looking at the ‘new market’ and assessing whether the private sector can service the bottom of the pyramid, to how energy providers are increasing productivity through decentralized solutions, the final day of the Forum addressed core issues in how we ensure an energy transition for all, and as Mary Robinson, President, Mary Robinson Foundation, said in a press conference, “how we reach those furthest behind, first.”
On the last day, nine of the guest speakers lined the Forum circular stage to reveal plans for a new people-centered accelerator to advance gender equality, social inclusion and women’s empowerment in the sustainable energy sector. Through this accelerator, partners will work together to progress action towards these three goals, while working with leaders to promote an energy transition supports these people-centered aims and leaves no one behind. The accelerator is due to formally be launched later in the year.
During her closing speech, Kyte said: “We built this Forum – and every session in it – on an evidence base: a foundation hewn from the latest Global Tracking Framework, the dashboard that we use to measure progress on Sustainable Development Goal #7. It shows us that there are many extraordinary things happening – and happening all around the world. And those things are happening – in very large part – because of the work you, here at this Forum, are doing. And together, we’ve had the courage to interrogate the latest evidence. Because that’s what real movements do”, she pointed out.