Covid slows progress towards SDG 7 goal attainment – World Bank
The World Bank, has said impacts from the outbreak of the Covid pandemic have slowed progress toward the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) which is expected to be achieved by 2030.
According to the 2022 edition of Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report by the World Bank, impacts of the pandemic including lockdowns, disruptions to global supply chains, and diversion of fiscal resources to keep food and fuel prices affordable, have accounted for the slowed progress towards the SDG 7.
The SDG 7 seeks to ensure equitable access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy by 2030.
The World Bank asserts that, advances already made towards the attainment of the Goal have been impeded particularly in vulnerable countries and those already lagging in energy access.
Globally, 733 million people still have no access to electricity, and 2.4 billion people still cook using fuels detrimental to their health and the environment. At the current rate of progress, 670 million people will remain without electricity by 2030—10 million more than projected last year.
Nearly 90 million people in Asia and Africa who had previously gained access to electricity, can no longer afford to pay for their basic energy needs.
These setbacks, the Bretton Wood Institution further notes, are expected to be made worse by the energy crisis arising out of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
“The impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on energy have been compounded in the last few months by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has led to uncertainty in global oil and gas markets and has sent energy prices soaring. Africa remains the least electrified in the world with 568 million people without electricity access.”
“Sub-Saharan Africa’s share of the global population without electricity jumped to 77 percent in 2020 from 71 percent in 2018 whereas most other regions saw declines in their share of the access deficits. While 70 million people globally gained access to clean cooking fuels and technologies, this progress was not enough to keep pace with population growth, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa,” states the report.
The report finds that despite continued disruptions in economic activity and supply chains, renewable energy was the only energy source to grow through the pandemic. However, these positive global and regional trends in renewable energy have left behind many countries most in need of electricity. This was aggravated by a decrease in international financial flows for the second year in a row, falling to USD 10.9 billion in 2019.
“The shocks caused by Covid-19 reversed recent progress towards universal access for electricity and clean cooking, and slowed vital improvements in energy efficiency even as renewables showed encouraging resilience. Today, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered a global energy crisis, driving huge price spikes that are causing particularly severe impacts in developing economies. Many of these economies were already in dire financial straits as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, and overcoming these difficulties to get on track for Sustainable Development Goals will require massive and innovative financial solutions from the international community,” said Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Agency.
“We believe SDG 7 is and remains an achievable goal and we urge governments and the global community to scale up efforts to integrate universal energy access into national energy transition plans, and to focus on the most remote, vulnerable and poorest unserved populations to ensure no one is left behind,” stated Riccardo Puliti, Infrastructure Vice President, The World Bank
In September 2021, the United Nations High-Level Dialogue on Energy brought together governments and stakeholders to accelerate action to achieve a sustainable energy future that leaves no one behind.
In this context, the SDG 7 custodian agencies, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO), as they launch this report, are urging the international community and policymakers to safeguard gains toward SDG 7; to remain committed to continued action towards affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all; and to maintain a strategic focus on countries needing the most support.
