High-Level Meeting of the Thematic Consultation on Energy, Oslo, Norway, April 2013 (Photo: Thomas Eckoff)
broad-based support from participants in previous consultations, The Zero Hunger Challenge was recognized as a potential starting point for the next phase of consultations. The consultation did not reach consensus, and called for additional efforts, particularly at global and regional levels, to bring greater convergence on some areas, such as: investment in agriculture and processing systems, trade policies and access to market, subsidies and the role of biofuels. The consultation suggested that a stand-alone goal on food security and nutrition should be included in the post-2015 development agenda, namely: ‘Achieve Food and Nutrition Security for all’.
Energy The missing MDG and the missing links
Participants were unanimous that universal access to clean, reliable and affordable energy should be a global goal in the post-2015 development agenda. Many called energy the ‘missing MDG’ that must be remedied. At the regional consultation for Africa, for example, there was emphatic agreement that sustainable economic growth and social well-being cannot be achieved without access to affordable modern energy services. Many emphasized that energy not only deserves a unique goal, but that the post-2015 agenda must also recognize energy as an enabling factor in access to clean water, food security, health,
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Water and energy are so intimately linked that actions to increase access to one of them will inevitably have effects on the other. If we are wise we can tap into the synergies present and increase access to both. If unwise we may trap ourselves in a downward spiral.
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Participant, e-discussion, Empowering a thirsty world, Water consultation
120 A M i l l i o n V o i c es: The World We Wa nt | A Sus tain able Fu t ure w ith D igni t y f or All
education, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. Participants were forthcoming with numerous examples of how lack of access to energy hampered obtaining a decent education, running a healthy and productive household, operating a successful business, and obtaining adequate health services — all with detrimental and lasting effects. Stakeholders underscored the urgency attached to addressing the energy challenge. The latest Sustainable Energy for All Global Tracking Framework notes that 1.2 billion people — the equivalent of almost the entire population of India — do not have access to electricity, and 2.8 billion have to rely on solid fuels — wood, charcoal, animal and crop waste, and coal — to cook or heat their homes. The indoor air pollution that results causes about 4 million premature deaths a year, most of them women and children. A massive effort is needed to expand access to electricity and safe cooking fuels, in large part to rural areas in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Countries, international organizations, the private sector and civil society need to increase energy investments by at least $600 billion a year until 2030, more than doubling the current estimated $409 billion. The additional $600 billion would include $45 billion for electricity expansion, $4.4 billion on modern cooking, $394 billion on energy efficiency, and $174 billion on renewable energy. Many were of the opinion that investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy provides win–win solutions for countries that need to balance economic and environmental priorities. The energy challenge is too big to tackle alone; all stakeholders have a role to play. For example, in the 2012 Global Compact Annual Implementation Survey, 1712 companies worldwide ranked energy in the ‘very urgent and important’ category and felt their operations could have a significant impact on promoting change.