In August, the Goal of the Month editorial focuses on Sustainable Development Goal 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy – ahead of the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy scheduled to take place during the UN General Assembly in September 2021.
UN HIGH-LEVEL DIALOGUE ON ENERGY | SEPTEMBER 2021 | #HLDE2021
Why do we need renewable energy?
- Today, nearly 760 million people still lack access to electricity and nearly 2.6 billion lack clean cooking fuels, causing several million deaths each year from household air pollution.
- The energy sector is the source of around three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions and holds the key to averting the worst effects of climate change.
- Affordable technologies are readily available on the market today that can put the world on track by 2030 for net‐zero emissions by 2050.
- Renewable energy is a smart investment and an engine for job creation. Renewables provide three times more jobs than fossil fuels.
The Dialogue will mobilize commitments and action to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Ahead of the event, Sustainable Energy for All has launched a drive to encourage action through Energy Compacts – urging stakeholders to submit voluntary commitments and concrete plans to clean and affordable energy.
Energy will play a critical role in the success of Africa’s free trade area
Olkaria geothermal complex and power station, the first geothermal power plant in Africa located in Nairobi, Kenya.
If you give a woman sustainable energy, she’s likely to earn
59 percent more just by having energy.
— Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General
From cooking fuel alternatives to solar power innovations, many Africans are rising to the challenge of solving age-old issues across the continent, while carving a clear path to a sustainable future. In an interview with Damilola Ogunbiya, UN Africa Renewal publication explores the prospect for and growth of clean energy in Africa.
Read full story here.
FROM ELECTRIC DREAMS TO SUPERCHARGED REALITY
The global Formula E electric race series, a partner with the UN Environment Programme, has grown in popularity since it launched some seven years ago, attracting the attention of major car manufacturers, changing people’s perceptions of electric vehicles, and bringing the world one step closer to a sustainable transport future.
Read full story here.
Formula E cars at the 2021 New York race in Red Hook, Brookyln. UN/Joon Park
other events
LAUNCH OF CLIMATE CHANGE 2021: THE PHYSICAL SCIENCE BASIS | 9 AUGUST | #IPCC
Background
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which publishes comprehensive assessments of climate science every six to seven years, will launch its sixth assessment report in 2022 – the first since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Assessment Report 6 (AR6) will encompass contributions from three working groups led by some of the world’s leading scientists:
- Working Group I: Physical understanding of the climate system and climate change
- Working Group II: Assessment of the impacts of climate change
- Working Group III: Progress on mitigation and efforts to limit emissions
On 9 August, following the conclusion of the IPCC’s 54th Session, the Panel will launch Working Group I’s report – Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis – which will provide the latest knowledge on past warming and future warming projections, in an effort to show how and why the climate has changed to date. It will include an improved understanding of human influence on the climate such as extreme weather events.
The rest of AR6 will be finalized in 2022.
WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY | 19 AUGUST | #THEHUMANRACE
World Humanitarian Day 2021 will highlight the immediate human cost of the climate crisis and pressure world leaders to take meaningful climate action for the world’s most vulnerable people – who often lack the capacity to cope with human-made and natural shocks.
Last year saw a record 30 named storms hit Central America, devastating homes and families. Floods in East Africa through to the Sahel affected millions of people, forcing many to flee their homes.
During the week of the commemoration, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, will host a global race challenge with Strava, the world’s leading exercise platform. In an effort to get the world racing against the climate crisis clock, participants can run, roll, ride, walk, swim, kick or hit a ball – allowing each action to count towards an unified message to world leaders when they meet at the UN Climate Change Conference in November.
The Invisible Crisis: Climate Change Drives Hunger in Southern Madagascar
Southern Madagascar is experiencing its worst drought in four decades that has left more than a million people food insecure, warns the World Food Programme (WFP). Watch a recent interview with WFP’s Shelley Thakral on the human cost of a tragedy caused by the impact of climate change at its worst.
Sink or swim: Can island states survive the climate crisis?
With most of its land only a few feet above sea level, Kiribati is seeing growing damage from storms and flooding. UNICEF/Vlad Sokhin
Small island nations across the world are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, and their problems have been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely affected their economies, and their capacity to protect themselves from possible extinction. We take a look at some of the many challenges they face, and how they could be overcome.
Read full story here.
ONE YEAR ON: PEACE AND JUSTICE IN LEBANON | 4 AUGUST
The 2020 devastating explosion in Beirut killed more than 200 people, injuring over 6,000 others and leaving many more homeless. Moreover, Lebanon saw up to $4.5 billion in damages. Nearly one year after the blast, United Nations and World Bank experts in Lebanon discuss the prospects for peace and justice in the country.
UNICEF: Families still struggling one year after Beirut explosion
The psychological impacts of the Beirut explosions continue to be felt deeply by children and caregivers, long after flesh wounds have healed. UNICEF/Fouad Choufany
UNICEF’s new survey highlights the severity of the trauma children suffered, and the dire needs families have experienced, which have been magnified by a collapsing economy, political instability and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read full story here.