The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, are the universal call to act for protection of the planet, ending poverty, and ensuring that peace and prosperity is enjoyed by all the people. 17 Goals have been set on the basis of success of the Millennium Development Goals and has also covered new areas such as economic inequality, climate change, innovation, peace and justice, and sustainable consumption. There is an interconnection between the goals which can also be regarded as the key to success (Sustainable Development Goals, 2018). This essay focuses on the role of energy in the Sustainable Development Goals along with the identification of main issues which may arise during the achievement of SDGs. At the end of this essay, some possible solutions to these issues have been provided.
There is an immense role played by energy in the Sustainable Development Goals and is therefore covered under Goal 7 which aims at ensuring access to reliable, affordable, modern and sustainable energy for all. Energy has been finally given the recognition of a key enabler for development. Its role is important as the sustainable development goals cannot be achieved if the sustainable use of energy is not made and it is not conserved for the future (Nilsson, Lucas and Yoshida, 2013). Furthermore, its importance is also due to the fact that the implementation and achievement of each of the 17 SDGs is possible only through the help of energy. SDG Goal 1 and 2 takes into consideration poverty and hunger. The socio- economic well- being of the communities is significantly affected by the access to the cost effective sources of energy for lighting, heating and fuel (Sachs, 2015). Furthermore, sustainable agriculture cannot exist if clean and safe farm energy is ensured by way of putting proper systems in place. In farming, renewable technologies are considered to be of great importance. SDG 3 AND 4 deals in health and education and the role of energy in these SDGs promises direct health benefits through the use of energy efficiency initiatives and renewable energy projects (Barbier and Burgess, 2017). The emissions of harmful gases which are injurious to the health of humans such as carbon dioxide, Sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide can be significantly reduced by ensuring a shift from fossil fuels to the alternative energy sources. The performance of the students is also dependent on the availability of rural electrification. The requirement of adequate lightning is still considered to be the major factors which create a differentiation between the urban and rural poor and their counterparts who live in the abundance of energy (Nilsson, Griggs and Visbeck, 2016).
SDG Goal 5 and 6 covers gender equality and water which provides that girls and women belonging to the rural villages and low income settlements are also required to perform the task of sourcing cooking energy. This directly impact the women entrepreneurs and school girls as their time gets divided between work, school and searching for cooking fuel. The energy poverty divide needs to be bridged as soon as possible. On the other hand, water is needed for the production of energy and it should be ensured that there is a provision of water for both industrial and domestic use. As far as the SDG 7 and 8 are concerned which covers energy and economy ROI which calls for the effective development of the energy resources across the continent (Le Blanc, 2015). The economies will be significantly driven through the sustainable use of energy along with providing the solutions for alleviating poverty and ensuring green growth that provides opportunities for sustained future and economic empowerment. SDG 9 and 10 deal with industrialization and inequality which provides that there is heavy reliance of the industries on the fossil fuels which may create environmental emergencies. There is a requirement that each and every country gets consistent and stable electricity from non- renewable and renewable sources (Fukuda- Parr, 2016). Inclusive Cities and Production/ Consumption are covered under SDG Goal 11 and 12. Clean and well managed energy base is required across the world for sustainable and resilient habitats. Environmental and physical safety is covered under energy safety along with the safety from danger and risk from interaction with electrical power. Industrialization and Inequality is covered under SDG 13 and 14. There is a relationship between climate change and energy as the environment significantly gets impacted by the production and use of energy. Similarly, SDG 15, 16 and 17 are related with environment, society and global partnerships. This provides that energy policy is required for every nation such that the order of nature does not get damaged (Larcher and Tarascon, 2015). Therefore, a key role is played by energy in all the SDGs.
The main issues which may arise in the achievement of SDGs relevant to energy include the neglected access to electricity. The statistics provide that there are still 1 million people who survive without electricity especially in the rural areas of south Asia and sub- Saharan Africa. Approximately 2.9 million people make the use of solid fuels such as coal, dung, charcoal and wood for the purpose of heating and cooking. Energy poverty can be regarded as the consequence of a number of reasons such as remote populations, inefficient utilities, untapped renewable energy, unhealthy cook stoves, and perceived investment risks. The role of integration of services is considered to be crucial in this regard as it can perform an important role in addressing this gap. The management and setting up of bundle of services will be needed which will further require the help of government policies (Edwards, 2017). Another issue faced in the achievement of SDGs is that energy efficiency is often overlooked. For this purpose, the government is required to think beyond the power generation sector and will need to focus on the ways through which infrastructure and transport can be made more efficient (Kolk, 2016). Furthermore, the achievement of SDGs relevant to energy also becomes difficult as a result of carbon capture and use. The tangling up of the current government around the issue has created the capturing and storage of carbon a puzzle. The emphasis is on the use of carbon such as turning carbon dioxide into substitute fuels and building materials. Moreover, the future energy plans will have no place for coal and the policymakers are required to ensure the support to the coal communities through the transition. Better alternatives are required to be developed by the international communities. Also, there is the lack of availability of the infrastructure finance over the past few decades as a result of the failure of the international community in taking advantage of low interest rates for pushing sustainable infrastructure development (Edwards, 2017).
For the purpose of achieving the SDG in the form of universal access to the modern energy services, there is the requirement of making significant improvements in enabling environments for the programs and projects. The goals can be met only if the annual investment is made equivalent to $ 45 billion. This will be associated with the expansion of grid electrification, however, substantial development of off- grid and mini- grid solutions will also be included in the remote areas. These will be the areas where the main grid extension cannot be regarded as the economically attractive approach (The World Bank, 2016). Furthermore, through the increased reliance on the renewable energy resources, the addressing of the energy scarcities can be ensured by the South Asian countries along with the saving of the valuable foreign exchange which is presently being spent on the hydrocarbon imports. Hydropower potential can be harnessed for the purpose of generating sustainable growth. Vast wind and solar energy potential can be tapped by South Asian countries along with the switching over to the cleaner fuels such as clean coal and natural gas technologies in coal- based power generation. The related benefits can be derived from the development of unified energy market associated with energy pipelines and grids, and forums so that the good practices can be shared along the sub region for the enhancement of energy efficiency and energy conservation (UNESCAP, 2016).
Therefore, it can be concluded that The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the universal call to act for protection of the planet, ending poverty, and ensuring that peace and prosperity is enjoyed by all the people. An important role is played by energy in all the 17 sustainable development goals and sustainable use of energy is required for their achievement. The main issues which may arise in the achievement of SDGs are neglected access to electricity, overlooking of energy efficiency, carbon capture and use, lack of availability of infrastructure finance. It is suggested that significant improvements in enabling environments for the programs and projects should be brought for the purpose of achieving SDG.
References
Barbier, E.B. and Burgess, J.C., 2017. The Sustainable Development Goals and the systems approach to sustainability. Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, 11(2017-28), pp.1-23.
Edwards, S. 2017. Rachel Kyte on 7 challenges facing the sustainable energy agenda, [Online] Available at: https://www.devex.com/news/rachel-kyte-on-7-challenges-facing-the-sustainable-energy-agenda-91309 [Accessed on: 2 November 2018].
Fukuda- Parr, S., 2016. From the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals: shifts in purpose, concept, and politics of global goal setting for development. Gender & Development, 24(1), pp.43-52.
Kolk, A., 2016. The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1), pp.23-34.
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Nilsson, M., Griggs, D. and Visbeck, M., 2016. Policy: map the interactions between Sustainable Development Goals. Nature News, 534(7607), p.320.
Nilsson, M., Lucas, P. and Yoshida, T., 2013. Towards an integrated framework for SDGs: Ultimate and enabling goals for the case of energy. Sustainability, 5(10), pp.4124-4151.
Sachs, J.D., 2015. The age of sustainable development. Columbia University Press.
Sustainable Development Goals. 2018. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 7, [Online] Available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg7 [Accessed on: 2 November 2018].
The World Bank. 2016. Sustainable Development Goal on Energy (SDG7) and the World Bank Group, [Online] Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/energy/brief/sustainable-development-goal-on-energy-sdg7-and-the-world-bank-group [Accessed on: 2 November 2018].
UNESCAP. 2016. Strategies for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in South Asia: Lessons from Policy Simulations, [Online] Available at: https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/20160825_SDG%20PolicyStrategies%20South%20Asia_SSWA_DP_1601_final_for%20upload.pdf [Accessed on: 2 November 2018].
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