Solar energy is the most abundant of all energy resources and can even be harnessed in cloudy weather. Credit: Raphael Pouget/UNICEF - Photo: 2025

Sustainable Clean Energy Remains a Distant Dream

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | 3 January 2025 (IDN) — The world continues to advance towards sustainable energy targets, but not fast enough. About 685 million people still live in the dark. Four in five are in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2.1 billion people are cooking with dirty fuels that create unhealthy indoor smoke, causing over 3.2 million premature deaths each year.

We are not on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), which aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030.  SDG7 is also critical in reducing poverty, improving health, education and gender equality, and creating sustainable jobs and economic growth.

Against this backdrop, the International Day of Clean Energy on 26 January — declared by the UN General Assembly as a call to raise awareness and mobilize action for a just and inclusive transition to clean energy — will underscore that clean energy lies at the core of a double challenge: leaving no one behind and protecting the Planet.

Clean energy is crucial for reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and protecting the climate and our natural world. A just and inclusive energy transition is key to limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius and preventing the worst climate impacts.

Reducing emissions

Over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions stem from the energy sector, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels.

Besides, in a world grappling with climate change, clean energy indeed plays a vital role in reducing emissions and can also benefit communities lacking access to reliable power sources. Therefore, the connection between clean energy, socio-economic development, and environmental sustainability is crucial in addressing issues faced by vulnerable communities worldwide.

For populations without clean energy access, the lack of reliable power hinders education, healthcare, and economic opportunities, and many of these developing regions still rely heavily on polluting fossil fuels for their daily life, perpetuating poverty. If current trends continue, by 2030 one in four people will still use unsafe, unhealthy and inefficient cooking systems, such as burning wood or dung.

According to the UN, renewable sources power nearly 30 per cent of energy consumption in the electricity sector, but challenges remain in heating and transport sectors. Developing countries experience 9.6 per cent annual growth in renewable energy installation, but despite enormous needs, international financial flows for clean energy continue to decline.

“To ensure access to energy for all by 2030, we must accelerate electrification, increase investments in renewable energy, improve energy efficiency and develop enabling policies and regulatory frameworks,” says the UN.

The United Nations Development Programme states that 33 million people do not have access to electricity. That’s about one in ten people worldwide. Access to electricity increased from 73 per cent in 1998 to 90 per cent in 2020.

It is estimated that between US$ 35 billion and 40 billion are needed annually to reach universal electricity access between 2021 and 2030 to achieve universal access to electricity.

Climate change

Adopting clean energy is integral to the fight against climate change, as well. A large chunk of the greenhouse gases that blanket the Earth and trap the Sun’s heat are generated through energy production, by burning fossil fuels (oil, coal, and gas) to generate electricity and heat.

The science is clear: to limit climate change, we need to end our reliance on fossil fuels and invest in alternative sources of energy that are clean, accessible, affordable, sustainable, and reliable. Renewable energy sources — which are available in abundance all around us, provided by the sun, wind, water, waste, and heat from the Earth — are replenished by nature and emit little to no greenhouse gases or pollutants into the air.

At the same time, improving energy efficiency is key. Using less energy for the same output –— through more efficient technologies in the transport, building, lighting, and appliances sectors for instance: saves money, cuts down on carbon pollution, and helps ensure universal access to sustainable energy for all.

26 January is also the founding date of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), a global intergovernmental agency established in 2009 to support countries in their energy transitions, serve as a platform for international cooperation, and provide data and analyses on clean energy technology, innovation, policy, finance and investment.

Countries need to deliver on commitments made to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030. They also must meet the agreed financing target of providing $300 billion each year through 2030 to enable poorer countries to transition to clean energy. [IDN-InDepthNews]

Photo: Solar energy is the most abundant of all energy resources and can even be harnessed in cloudy weather. Credit: Raphael Pouget/UNICEF

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