The UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 is about ensuring access to clean and affordable energy, which is crucial for the development of agriculture, trade, communications, education, health care and transport. Indeed, lack of access to energy hinders economic and human development.
The latest data show that the world is progressing towards the Sustainable Energy Goals. Yet, the current pace of progress is insufficient to achieve Goal 7 by 2030. Huge inequalities in access to modern sustainable energy persist.
Rising commodity, energy and shipping prices have increased the cost of producing and transporting solar photovoltaic modules, wind turbines and biofuels around the world, adding uncertainty to a development path that is already well below the ambitions of Goal 7. Achieving energy and climate goals will require sustained policy support and the massive mobilisation of public and private capital for clean and renewable energy, especially in developing countries.
# Facts and figures on affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern clean energy
The world is progressing towards the Sustainable Energy Goals, but not as fast as expected. At the current pace, about 660 million people will still not have access to electricity and by 2030 about 2 billion people will still rely on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking. It is noteworthy that about 30 percent of energy consumption in the power sector comes from renewable sources, but challenges remain in the heating and transport sectors. Renewable energy installations in developing countries are experiencing annual growth of 9.6 percent, but despite the huge needs, international financial flows for clean energy continue to decline.
Therefore, to ensure access to energy for all by 2030, we must accelerate electrification, increase investment in renewable energy, improve energy efficiency and develop enabling policies and regulatory frameworks. Because 733 million people do not have access to electricity. This is about one in ten people worldwide.
At the same time, the United Nations Development Program on Energy Access shows that access to electricity increased from 73% in 1998 to 90% in 2020. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has estimated that US$35 billion to US$40 billion annually will be required between 2021 and 2030 to reach universal access to electricity.