Recommendations on Energy for the UN General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development

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Policy Brief #2: Recommendations on Energy for the UN General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG on SDGs)

The recommendations on energy presented here have been compiled from three civil society consultations conducted by UN-NGLS from 2012-2013: a teleconference-based consultation that resulted in the report Advancing Regional Recommendations on the Post-2015 Agenda; an online consultation on four post-2015 reports to the Secretary-General; and a teleconference and meeting-based consultation on the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative. This brief also draws on the Women’s Major Group energy recommendations for the OWG on SDGs.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) recognize that several sets of proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have included a goal on energy, often incorporating the three targets used by the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative:
a) ensuring universal access to modern energy services;
b) doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and
c) doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

Among CSOs, there is widespread support for including a goal on energy in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. The significant majority of organizations, however, are not satisfied with the proposed goals so far, and advocate for more comprehensive, specific and ambitious targets. Consistent with the prevailing call from CSOs for the post-2015 development agenda to take a human rights-based approach, consultation participants asserted that all energy policy and implementation by the private and public sector must be consistent with existing UN human rights commitments. CSOs resoundingly called for energy targets to include a strong focus on reducing emissions and excessive energy use in the industrialized world. They further advocated that governments must promote development and energy generation that does not result in dangerous by-products, particularly those with the capacity to trigger global-level destruction. Detailed recommendations are presented below, organized according to the following five objectives:
1. Achieving universal energy access;
2. Ensuring clean, safe, and locally appropriate energy generation;
3. Advancing energy efficiency;
4. Enabling effective financing for energy; and
5. Establishing the roles of stakeholders.


1. Achieving Universal Energy Access

a) Address energy access as a common good to be provided as a public service.
b) Agree to a global energy access standard that incorporates civil society definitions of energy access and sustainability, such as Practical Action’s Total Energy Access Standards.
c) Design impact metrics that measure social and economic benefits of energy access, using a participatory approach. Measure progress at least by the number of people able to access energy services that meet or exceed a minimum agreed international standard for lighting, cooking, heating, cooling, and communications.
d) Prioritize access to free energy for the energy-deprived, and modernization of traditionally free and local energy sources. Reduce energy waste to support affordability and maximize availability, through measures such as retrofits to homes and businesses. Affordability must be the fundamental consideration in delivering sustainable energy access.
e) Centre energy access strategies and implementation on equity. Mainstream gender issues and women’s empowerment in discussions about sustainable energy and reducing poverty.
f) Ensure energy access and control over energy choices for people living in poverty, in line with the principle of energy sovereignty. Link the term “sustainable energy” to peoples’ capacity to design, manage, operate, and maintain energy facilities. Fund and support local capacity building to enable the achievement of energy objectives.
g) Promote regional energy access project incubators; build cooperatives to increase impacts of energy projects.
h) Use a variety of efficient energy sources, equipment and appliances at a variety of scales, as the traditional power sector alone will not and cannot deliver an end to energy poverty. On-, off- and mini- grid approaches, and a variety of cooking and mechanical power options, will be required to create universal energy access. 55% of the new generating capacity created over the coming years will need to be mini-grid or off-grid if the goal of universal access is to be achieved by 2030.1
i) Implement climate resilient energy sources to meet the goal of universal access. According to International Energy Agency reports, this will require off-grid renewable solutions.
j) As appropriate, adapt and innovate existing energy solutions to respond to new contexts. Effective business strategies of many “socially-oriented energy enterprises, organizations and financiers that understand the energy needs of low-income consumers in developing countries” are described in the World Resources Institute (WRI) report Implementation Strategies for Renewable Energy Services in Low-Income, Rural Areas.
k) To scale up energy service delivery, implement predictable, supportive and consistent government policy and regulation that prioritizes or incentivizes energy access.
l) Avoid nuclear energy in plans for energy access. Particularly in developing countries, nuclear energy is an impractical and dangerous choice due to its excessive and growing upfront costs; inability to compete with more cost-effective, fuel-free energy sources (wind and solar) and demand- reduction/management strategies; long construction periods (see 2.f below); poor economic performance in terms of cost per job created; legacy costs for management of radioactive waste (hazardous for millennia), decommissioning and environmental remediation; and security costs including protection against nuclear proliferation risk. In addition, the economic impact of nuclear accidents – overwhelming even for the advanced industrial nations – would easily outstretch the economic and technical capacity of most nations. Nuclear generation supply is declining in nearly all nations where the industry is most advanced,2 and recent attempts to revive it have failed primarily due to economic factors. Other environmental trends resulting from climate change – such as surface water warming, drought, and sea-level rise – will exacerbate this trend in the coming years by reducing the generation capacity, reliability, and revenues of nuclear units, while raising their operating costs. Countries building new nuclear reactors are disregarding the economic and safety liabilities. Small modular nuclear reactors must not be promoted as a form of distributed generation as “vendors are cutting corners on important reactor safety features, such as containment structures,” to save capital costs, and any generic defects in mass-produced modular units would spread throughout the entire reactor fleet.3

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