Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has revealed that it will be co-organizing a roundtable discussion on financing Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) at the 2023 United Nations (UN) High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), with the Permanent Mission of Barbados to the United Nations.
Information obtained by Valuechain revealed that the event will hold on July 12 at the United Nations Conference Building in New York, United States of America (USA).
According to IRENA, the roundtable is necessary because, while global investment in renewable energy has reached a record high of $0.5 trillion in 2022, investments are not flowing at the pace or scale that is required to accelerate progress toward achieving SDG 7 along with the improvements in livelihoods and welfare that was called for under the 2030 Agenda.
The Organizations added that investments in off-grid renewable energy solutions in 2021 at $0.5 billion, fell far short of the $15 billion needed annually in order to accelerate progress towards universal energy access, adding that 675 million people had no access to electricity and nearly 2.3 billion people relied on traditional fuels and technologies for cooking at the end of 2021.
They stated that more than half of the world’s population received only 15 percent of global investments in 2022 and the disparity in renewable energy financing received by developed versus developing countries keeps increasing and has more than doubled over the past six years.
IRENA explained that the roundtable seeks to gather countries, international organizations, multilateral and regional development banks, as well as other stakeholders in order to assess current obstacles, showcase success stories, identify priorities and initiatives to scale up, while also ensuring affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030.
The roundtable discussion will be guided by questions like what the biggest challenges to attracting finance for realizing SDG7 are and how the current macroeconomic environment is impacting flows of investment towards renewables, among others.