Eliasson spoke of the importance of working across economic, social and environmental dimensions to participants of a high-level event of Sustainable Energy for All, a multi-stakeholder partnership, on the sidelines of the UN Sustainable Development Summit, at which the new Goal was adopted along with 16 other goals and 169 targets to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate over the next 15 years.
He cited as examples of successful partnerships already underway.
For example, he said, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Carbon War Room, KLM, Novozymes and the UN Foundation have partnered to scale up the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy solutions.
And in Bangladesh, India, Mali and Mozambique, the Alliance for Rural Electrification and the OPEC Fund for International Development are working together to implement mini-grid projects.
Eliasson also commended domestic initiatives, such as Brazil’s successful “Light for All” programme, Saudi Arabia’s planned $109 billion dollar investment in solar energy, and India’s strong commitment to energy access for all by 2019.
“With Sustainable Development Goal 7, the United Nations has for the first time agreed on a universal goal on energy, with targets on access, renewables, efficiency, and means of implementation,” he said.