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[Music]
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welcome to the cop 26 dialogues from the
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sdg studio at un headquarters in new
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york
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over the next two weeks we will bring
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you a series of conversations that look
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at the sustainable development goals and
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how they link to key areas of climate
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action and solutions that are being
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advanced at the un climate conference in
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glasgow
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our first dialogue today focuses on
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sustainable development goals seven
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access to affordable reliable
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sustainable and modern energy for all
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the energy sector is critical for
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climate action and is at the center of
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discussions at glasgow today
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we know that we need to urgently close
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the energy access gap
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and deliver a transition from fossil
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fuels to renewable energy that is truly
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inclusive and equitable
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and we have an enormous task ahead of us
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latest estimates show that
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759 million people continue to live
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without access to electricity
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and 2.6 billion people remain unable to
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cook cleanly and safely
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meanwhile emissions from energy account
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for about 75 percent of total greenhouse
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gas emissions
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with me today are two experts who are
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leading global efforts to accelerate
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action on sustainable gold seven in
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support of the 2030 agenda and the paris
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agreement
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joining us live from glasgow is damilolo
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ogumbili
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the special representative of the un
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secretary general for sustainable energy
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for all and here with me in the studio
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is allah wilfred bia the chief of the
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international renewable energy agency's
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office here in new york welcome demi
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lola and wilfried and thank you so much
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for for joining us today but before we
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turn to our guests let's take a look at
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a conversation in glasgow today have a
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listen
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i am increasingly
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seeing promising signs of recognizing
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that we've crossed the tipping point
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towards irreversible
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transition towards a fossil fuel-free
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energy system in the world but it's
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going too slowly we have too many
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countries and industries and financial
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institutions in the world that are not
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fully on board on the pace of change so
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we still have a lot to do we're still on
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an uphill path and remember that you
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know it's not only about oil coal and
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natural gas it's about putting robust
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criteria on nature-based solutions so we
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don't have rebound effects from
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renewable energy from biofuel systems we
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need to you know
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recognize that energy efficiency and
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equitable sharing of the energy space in
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the world
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is equally important as as phasing out
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fossil fuels so it's a complex challenge
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it's a big
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promising signs but still a huge
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challenge ahead of us as we have just
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heard from euron rockstorm the director
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of the potsdam institute for climate
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impact research and we will now hear
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from our experts in the studio how we
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can tackle this challenge damiluna
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you're joining us from glasgow from what
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you've seen at cop26 so far what makes
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this particular moment and this year so
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critical for progress on sustainable
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development gold seven to provide
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affordable and clean energy for all
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well this year we barely have eight and
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a half year years left
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i think that's one of the most critical
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things and we both know that it's also
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climate crisis
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we cannot achieve our net zero goals if
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we do not use universal access for all
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by 2030 so i think there's been an extra
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emphasis on how do we make sure
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at least like you said
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759 million people have access to
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electricity
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and 2.6 billion people have access in
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cooking if we continue as business as
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usual by 2030 we would still have 600
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million people without access to
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electricity and 2.3 billion people
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without access to clean cooking once you
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see those statistics and after going
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then we realize that even though the
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vaccine distribution is not equitable
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they're still
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only 25 of primary healthcare centers in
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africa that actually have electricity to
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even able to administer a vaccine a lot
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of things are coming to a head and
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people understand that energy access
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family has to be part of the energy
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transition story
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thank you so much damilo and also for
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pointing out how much really depends
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also on access to energy and access to
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clean and sustainable energy and wilfred
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i'm sure you're following the
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announcements at cop 26 very closely as
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well so what are your thoughts on some
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of the major announcements and why do
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they matter so much
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thank you very much first of all it's
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very good to see that many more and more
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countries are joining the
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zero pledge it's also encouraging that
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the private sector is stepping up
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you know with the global financial
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services firm agreeing
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to align their financial financial
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assets with the goals we are pretty sure
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that you are going to
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achieve greater results in the future
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but as you know it's not enough to make
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announcement the most important thing
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afterwards will be
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to make sure that implementations
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good implementation follows
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and reaching the net zero
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emissions by 2050
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requires a lot
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increase ambition targeted policies uh
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but also uh more actions for the
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the emitting countries
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especially those who are from the
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from the g20 group
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we welcome the glasgow operator agenda
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announced
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at the cup 26 and we believe that it's
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also one of the best instruments we can
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use in that in that way
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at irena we are
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clear we we don't shy away from the fact
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that we cannot achieve the climate goals
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without uh
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giving importance the high priority to
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renewables so there is no climate action
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that can be
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undertaken without a renewable energy
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and the good news is that prices of
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renewables are decreasing so there is a
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window of opportunity that we can we can
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seize
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by the way
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we all we already have a big gap
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in terms of financing uh estimates now
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that we need 33 trillion
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in order to
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to bridge the gap
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and i irena has conducted many studies
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and we know that for each dollar
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invested
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will yield benefits
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of between two and five us dollars so
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there is a lot we can do
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in that way also we need to support
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emerging technologies we all limit our
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investment in oil and and
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and cares we also need to invest in a
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set of policies
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and we know that if we work together in
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in in in that area we will be able to to
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achieve our goals
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right thank you so much rufu you said
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announcements alone are not enough so
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let me ask both of you
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and
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what will you do
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the day after cop 26 to make sure that
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the ambitious announcements really
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become reality
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and how can the recently launched energy
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compacts a new initiative by un energy
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helped to encourage implementation
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damilola please share your thoughts with
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us
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well you just took it we were going to
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talk i was going to talk about energy
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compacts we're launching an energy
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compact network
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that makes sure that these everything
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that's been said here is put into action
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and we're going back especially
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companies who have said more things here
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back to the energy compacts and say how
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are you going to make sure this happens
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on ground how are you going to follow
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commitments from countries now saying i
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want to get to net zero i want to get to
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clean energy and private sector
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companies and multi stakeholders saying
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that i actually have energy access
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targets so we need to use the power of
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the un and our matchmaking skills to
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bring people together so when we are
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talking next year we're talking about
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actual projects that have happened on
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ground instead of talking about just
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policies and commitments and agreements
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but i do share the point in terms of
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policy formulation as well there's still
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some lacking in that but again i don't
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think that is enough to stop projects
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from going on as they are there are
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enough countries now that have the right
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policies and the regulations that want
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to encourage renewables and we have to
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make sure that we show projects that it
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can work and we can focus on people and
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planet at the same time
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thanks so much damilola and and
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what will your roadmap for action look
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like coming out of glasgow
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yes glasgow is already a good a good
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opportunity for many actors to showcase
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what they are doing and we believe that
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some best practices
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can help us in order to achieve our
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goals in in the field because at the end
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of the day we need to have
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more actions in the field we need to
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have more results in the field it's not
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a matter of
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of just talk
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in glasgow but people we represent or
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people
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delegates new glasgow represents needs
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to make sure that at the end of the day
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there is something that is being made in
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the field in order for
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people on the ground to feel
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the benefits of the decisions or the
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negotiations that are taking place right
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now
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irena has
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more than 10 compacts
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coming out of the high level dialogue on
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energy
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and we are in the process of
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accelerating the implementation
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uh just yesterday irena announced uh
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the launch of
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a new
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energy transition accelerator financing
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platform itaf
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in collaboration with the united arab
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emirates
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the
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our goal is to mobilize at least one
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billion in total funding
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and
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under it have the uae committed
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to provide 400 million in funding toward
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the the platform so
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with this 400 million irena has ambition
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to mobilize more
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up to and who knows more than one
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billion we we also we also keep
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helping and supporting countries uh in
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the implementation of the ambitious ndcs
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to meet the paris agreement uh
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target
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we also want to
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mention that uh in our implementation or
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in the implementation of
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not only the the the
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not only the
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the the
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compacts but
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the implementation of our strategic
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goals we have a number of emotes with
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many entities
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being at a global level like the u.n or
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being at the local level we work in
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africa with regional communities for
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instance we work with the african
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development bank we want we work with
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many actors to make sure that energy
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transition is a reality in the field so
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we
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we we pledge to
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to keep the momentum
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thank you so much a lot of work ahead of
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you for for ahead of us for both of you
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um
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decent and healthy jobs sustainable
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development goal eight is another key
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area of work for both of you
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wilfred your organization released a new
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report on this topic together with the
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international labor organization that is
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showcasing a positive trend
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renewable energy employment worldwide
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reached 12 million last year can you
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tell us more about the opportunities for
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job creation through the energy
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transition
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it's good that you mentioned the figure
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of 12 million
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let me say the outset that
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a renewable energy should not be seen as
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a threat to jobs actually it's an
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opportunity to create more jobs so
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renewable energy is not about
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threatening the stability of economies
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actually is
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made to boost economies as you rightly
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mentioned more than 12 million people
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are employed in the sector today let me
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give you uh
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other figures
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you know we have 12 million today but
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it's a steady increase
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since 12 2012
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at 7.3 million
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and we know that uh
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arena for instance
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believes that by 2015
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we are going to double
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the the number of jobs you are going to
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double to 122 million
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so we believe that there are many
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opportunities we as i said earlier uh
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we have the technology
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we prices are going down
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and the irena is
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firmly believes arena family believes
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that under uh
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our coalition for action more than 100
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130 renewable energy leaders
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will be able to
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move
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countries and government in the right
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direction
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our arena coalition for energy
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comprises
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more than 100 leaders from government
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from the private sector and so on and
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one of our key points is that we should
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make sure that in the field we have more
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jobs in the area of renewables but also
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in the in the global economy in general
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because
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when you sell renewables to a political
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leader
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he wants to see how this is going to
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affect positively its economy it's not
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only about
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energies not only about climate change
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but it's about the economy of the
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country in general so there is maybe a
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need also to change narrative so
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political leaders can see in us
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creators of job or
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those who provide
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more opportunities for the economies
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it's not only about climate change as i
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said is about the well-being of
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populations in the field
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thanks so much for huge potential there
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and damilola allow me to to dive a bit
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deeper here for every u.s dollar
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invested in the transition towards
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renewable energy an additional 93 cents
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of gdp growth is expected
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how important is the just transition for
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the economy and what is its potential
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impact on jobs in particular on the
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employment and empowerment of women
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well it's critical
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economic growth in any country is
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sometimes measured with the amount of
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energy they have so you're not going to
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get people out of poverty if you don't
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provide them energy
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but you know i follow on from what was
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being said for every thousand household
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connected to decentralized energy
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there's typically about 25 jobs and in
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the case of gender we've seen um cases
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that if you provide a woman especially
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in sub-saharan africa with sustainable
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energy just for business and nothing
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else she's likely to earn 59 percent
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more than what she was earning before
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this is critical because it puts on on
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par with her male counterpart but it
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also allows her to possibly employ
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another person and those are the
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indirect jobs that we sometimes don't
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capture for by having sustainable energy
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it's not just about basic levels of
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energy household lighting it's about
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energy for development industry and real
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true ultra um entrepreneurs need these
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jobs to actually survive so there's a
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lot
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the fastest way um to get countries to
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the economic growth status that they
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really want to be in
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thanks so much
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damilola and before we come to the end
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of our sessions i would like to ask both
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of you both of you what would you like
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to leave our listeners with today maybe
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demi lola we go first again to you
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firstly i'd like to explain to people
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the direct connection between energy and
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fresh energy access and climate
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if we do not achieve universal access by
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2030 we cannot achieve net zero by 2050.
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the last point i'd like to speak to
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everyone about or leave them with is the
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amount of financing that is still needed
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for developing countries to transition
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and it's important as a global audience
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that we find that money so we do not
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leave a billion people behind in this
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climate and energy transition
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thank you and wilfried what would you
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like to leave our listeners with i would
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like to agree with just
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let me know with what john damila just
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said actually we need more resources
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that's clear and
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we may have ambitions we may have
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good policies we may have
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whatever we want but if we don't have
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enough investment in renewables we won't
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be able to achieve the net zero goal and
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we should also keep in mind that energy
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as i said is not only about energy per
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se or about climate change but you see
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energy has a cross-cutting issue because
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there is no way you can achieve
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gallstone poverty or education or
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education or gender
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or
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even
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employment in industrial development if
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you don't have
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a
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reliable energy available to economies
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so it's not only
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that we we want to achieve goals but we
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want to help country in order to for
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them to achieve all the sdgs through
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energy
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i just want to take one example when
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when we
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we
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decided to partner with unicef it was
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not obvious for some
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why are you going to pat how are why
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irena wants to partner with unicef but
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when you look closely at what you are we
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are doing you are going to see that
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it has a critical impact on girls in the
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field it has a critical impact also on
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the education so these are a number of
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aspects that we should look at when we
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talk about energy transition
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thank you so much thank you so much
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wilfried thank you so much damilola
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such an informative and spirited session
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today
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we have come to the end of our first cop
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26 dialogue on energy day stay tuned for
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more conversations over the next few
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days and thank you so much for joining
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us
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[Music]
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you
