Group 8_C | UN SDG: Affordable & Clean Energy
In September 2015, after a community consultation process, all the 193 UN member countries adopted Resolution 70/1- Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 8 million people contributed to frame the most pressing issues on the planet. More than 300 issues arose, which were then combined into 17 broader goals which the UN called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This article talks about the seventh SDG- Affordable and Clean Energy.
One-third of the world population still uses dangerous and inefficient cooking systems. A quarter of billion people don’t have access to electricity. Less than 10% of energy comes from renewable sources for the transport and heat sector. The aim is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
The goal has five targets to be achieved by 2030 and indicators to measure the progress are as noted below:
Outcome Targets:
· Target 7.1- Universal access to modern energy
Measured by ‘Proportion of population with access to electricity’ and ‘Proportion of population primary reliance on clean fuels’
· Target 7.2- Increase the global percentage of renewable energy
Measured by ‘Renewable energy share in the total final energy consumption’
· Target 7.3- Double the improvement in energy efficiency
Measured by ‘Energy intensity measured in terms of primary energy and GDP’
Means of achieving Targets:
· Target 7.A- Promote access to research, technology and investments in clean energy
Measured by ‘International financial flows to developing countries in support of clean energy research and development and renewable energy production, including in hybrid systems’
· Target 7.B- Expand and Upgrade energy services for developing countries
Measured by ‘Investments in energy efficiency as a proportion of GDP and the amount of foreign direct investment in financial transfer for infrastructure and technology to sustainable development services’
India is among the largest growing economies in the world, will be a 25% contributor to the Global Energy demand by 2040. India is also the 4th largest GHG emitter succeeding China, the USA & the EU. Though the country’s energy demand has doubled from the year 2000, the energy consumption per capita is only 33% of the world average per capita consumption.
In line with the goal of providing electricity to billions of people, India has also set significant voluntary goals under the Paris Agreement on climate change. It is committed to reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 33-35 percent by 2030 and increasing renewable energy by 40 percent by 2030, and ensuring that 40 percent of electricity demand will be met through non-fossil sources.
Additionally, the Government of India has set a target of 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022. India’s leadership in the International Solar Alliance (and France) demonstrates their commitment to to work towards efficient Solar Energy and to make solar cheaper than thermal energy.The market for power access Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) in India is estimated at $400 million. Globally, when renewable energy consumption doubles, global GDP is expected to expand to US $1.3 trillion. Market-based approaches to unlocking energy efficiency are estimated to cost more than US $11 billion.
India’s level of ambition to expand its renewable energy opens the door for businesses and private companies to work with central and provincial state governments to explore renewable energy technologies. With DRE innovative and grid-based solutions, such as local power systems and small renewable grids, businesses can help ensure end-to-end communications in remote communities. Investment in solar energy and efficient storage with lithium-ion batteries, the basis for increasing renewable energy consumption, is essential. Building the industry with innovative business models and financial institutions, such as green infrastructure bonds to raise debt financing for renewable projects and efficiency, could be another important area of intervention.
Firms started taking bold steps within a year of the adoption of the SDGs. In a 2016 review by Business for Social Responsibility (an organisation of sustainable business specialists that collaborates with its global network of leading corporations to create a more just and sustainable society), it noted that companies are taking initiatives to integrate the goals into their core business through internal collaboration as well as collaboration across industries and sectors.
Many progressive corporations are paying more attention to ESG measures. Globally, Investments are increasingly flowing into firms with greater emphasis on sustainability. According to a report by Bloomberg, ESG investments may hit $53tn worldwide by 2025, a third of projected global AUM. These investments doubled from $15tn to $30tn from 2014 to 2018.
Source: GSIA, Bloomberg Intelligence
ESG investing in India is at an early stage, but it is slowly picking up pace driven by the global growth. Six new ESG funds were launched in India in second half of FY21, which took the total to 23, still much lower than US and UK with more than 500 funds each.
To boost the idea of clean & renewable energy, awareness among the common people is a pre-requisite. One such strong initiative on an individual level to promote renewable & affordable clean energy is by Dr. Solanki.
26th November 2021 marked the One-year Anniversary of Energy Swaraj Yatra being run by Dr. Chetan Singh Solanki, Professor from IIT Bombay & founder of Energy Swaraj Foundation. Dr. Solanki has set out on a road trip for 11 years (2020-2030) through villages of India in his Solar-powered Bus to educate people about electricity conservation, sustainable energy options such as Solar bulbs, Solar cookers, Clean Cooking & Entrepreneurship opportunities in renewables, etc. He said after one year: “Through my Energy Swaraj Yatra (2020-30) I am trying to create a public movement to surrender grid electricity connection, switch to 100% solar and gain freedom from use of fossil energy, one of the steps that the world needs to take, in order to mitigate climate change.”
Image: Dr. Solanki with Solar powered Energy Swaraj Yatra Bus
Another corporate implementation of Clean Energy is Reckitt saving electric & carbon footprint by using Solar Energy in their production process in their Sashi plant in China. The plant uses solar power to pre-heat the boilers during day & heat pumps at night. This initiative has reduced the GHG emissions by 12 tonnes per year also saving natural gas consumption & costs. In India, Reckitt’s one of the largest plants ‘Sitarganj plant’ in Uttarakhand is powered by 100% renewable sources. In 2012, the company had pro-actively identified that Electricity is the largest source of emissions at their manufacturing sites & had aimed to source 100% electricity requirements from renewable energy which has crossed 62% in 2020.
Image: Reckitt’s Mysore Plant powered by Solar panels
UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) review meeting happens every year under the auspices of United Nations Economic and Social council to track the progress of all the SDGs.
UN has created a portal to track the progress of meeting the targets which is freely available to public to view and analyse. Following analysis has been done on Electricity access rate and % of energy sourced from renewable sources, primarily for India.
The electricity access rate has shot up from 56% of the total population in India in 2001 to 98% of the total population in India in 2019. This is a commendable progress in the span of 19 years. However, the urban areas in India have historically enjoyed greater access to electricity. In 2001, the access rate was 88% and it reached a 100% by 2019.
Source: UN Progress Report
It is noteworthy that 32% of the final energy consumed is renewable. This goes to show that India as a country has a long way to go in terms of switching to renewable energy from conventional sources of energy. It is in fact astonishing to note that this percentage was higher (58.7%) in 1990 and has been dropping consistently since then to 31.7% in 2018. This could probably be attributed to the fact that the energy consumption has been exponentially increasing in India with the increasing access to electricity. However, the increased demand was met with conventional sources (80% of demand is still being met by coal, oil, and solid biomass) instead of renewable sources.
Although, there is a rapid decline of use of biomass (mainly fuelwood for cooking) and increased adoption of LPG, about 660 million Indians have yet to shift to clean, modern cooking fuels or technologies.
Despite this, we can see that India is actively trying to support the switch to renewable energy through policy support and technology cost reductions. Renewable energy production has increased by 250% from 2014 to 2021. Renewable energy generation has not been hit as much as the oil and coal sources during the Covid-19 pandemic. Solar PV has especially witnessed a boost during this time.
According to estimates by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) - by the year 2029-30, the share of renewable energy production will increase from 18% to 44%, while the percentage of Thermal Energy is expected to drop from 78% to 52%.
Going forward, the Indian government has already put a wide range of policies in place to create a future with more sustainable energy generation and consumption. For instance, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has an aim to install 4000 MW RTS capacity in the residential sector by 2022 as a part of the Rooftop Solar Programme Phase II, an effort to increase rooftop solar (RTS) use throughout the country.
The Indian government wants to develop ‘green city’ in all regions of the country which would be mostly powered by renewable sources of energy. The ‘green city’ will supply electricity through solar panels to all its houses, solar parks, and electric mobility for public transport.
It is only through the actual implementation of these plethora of initiatives and policies by Government, companies and individuals that the actual UN Sustainable Development Goal of Affordable & Clean Energy can be fulfilled. And while the clock for so-called ‘dirty energy’ is slowly ticking, there is still a long way to go when it comes to the poor and developing countries. A unified approach is key to resolving this crisis. We need to act fast and act now.
As quoted by the inventor of bulb himself,
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of Power! I hope we don’t wait until oil and coal run out before we can tackle that”- Thomas A. Edison
References:
1. https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/SDG%207%20Goal%20Profile_0.pdf
2. https://www.iea.org/reports/india-energy-outlook-2021
3. https://www.ibef.org/industry/renewable-energy.aspx
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goal_7
5. UN General Assembly Report: 17th session, September 2015
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N15/291/89/PDF/N1529189.pdf?OpenElement
6. https://in.one.un.org/unibf/energy/
9. https://trackingsdg7.esmap.org
11. https://sdg-tracker.org/energy
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