Goal 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy
Goal 7 is about ensuring access to clean and affordable energy, which is key to the development of
agriculture, business, communications, education, healthcare and transportation. The lack of access to
energy hinders economic and human development.
Sustainable Development Goal 7 has five targets that it must achieve by 2030. Firstly, it must ensure
affordable, reliable and sustainable modern energy for all. Moreover, it must increase the use of
renewable energy globally and double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency. In order to
achieve these three targets, the United Nations should promote international cooperation to facilitate
access to research, technology and investments in clean energy and expand and upgrade energy
services for developing countries. It has been found that between 2000 and 2018, the number of
people with electricity increased from 78 to 90%.
Goal 7 is closely linked to Goal 13, which is climate action. In the late 1700s, there was an increase in
the demand for non-renewable resources, that is, coal, oil and natural gas to produce heat. Many
people however, lacked the resources to afford these non-renewable resources and many were
exposed to dangerous air pollution. The economy was highly reliant on fossil fuels that were causing
climate changes. Therefore, it became necessary to move to more environment-friendly sources of
energy, that are accessible by the most remote areas of the world.
SDG 7 calls for ensuring universal access to modern energy services, improving energy efficiency and
increasing the share of renewable energy. To accelerate the transition to an affordable, reliable and
sustainable energy system that fulfils these demands, countries need to facilitate access to clean
energy research and technology and to promote investment in resource- and energy-efficient solutions
and related infrastructure.
Between 1990 and 2010, the number of people with access to electricity has increased by 1.7 billion,
and as the global population continues to rise so will the demand for cheap energy. A global economy
reliant on fossil fuels and the increase of greenhouse gas emissions is creating drastic changes to our
climate system. This is having a visible impact on every continent.
However, there has been a new drive to encourage alternative energy sources, and in 2011 renewable
energy accounted for more than 20 percent of global power generated. Still one in five people lack
access to electricity, and as the demand continues to rise there needs to be a substantial increase in the
production of renewable energy across the world.
Ensuring universal access to affordable electricity by 2030 means investing in clean energy sources
such as solar, wind and thermal. Adopting cost-effective standards for a wider range of technologies
could also reduce the global electricity consumption by buildings and industry by 14 percent. This
means avoiding roughly 1,300 mid-size power plants. Expanding infrastructure and upgrading
technology to provide clean energy sources in all developing countries is a crucial goal that can both
encourage growth and help the environment.
A study conducted shows global investment in variable renewable energy (VRE) technologies highly
favours SDG-7. Of all the low-carbon technology alternatives, cumulative solar PV deployment of
8519 GW would serve 25% of global electricity demand by 2050. Transcontinental grid connectivity
would allow countries to trade electricity and optimize the energy surpluses and deficits across the
region based on future forecasts. For a sustainable energy future, unleashing the massive potential of
solar PV can facilitate to achieve SDG-7 and climate targets by 2050 without raising expected
electricity prices.
Energy intensity, generically defined as the amount of energy used to produce a given output or
service, is used as the indicator to track progress on SDG 7.3. The SDG 7.3.1 indicator is specifically
measured in terms of primary energy and GDP, which is a proxy indicator to track country or global
level progress.
Sector energy efficiency indicators where the output or service is more identifiable, such as tracking
progress for energy per floor area of a building or energy per passenger kilometre for road travel, can
enable improved decision making.
Latest data suggest that the world continues to advance towards sustainable energy targets.
Nevertheless, the current pace of progress is insufficient to achieve Goal 7 by 2030. Huge disparities
in access to modern sustainable energy persist.
