Against the backdrop of a global energy crisis and worsening climate emergency, the UN took a major step to catalyze large-scale action and support needed for the transition to clean, affordable energy for all and net-zero emissions, with the launch of a Plan of Action by some 30 leading organizations comprising “UN-Energy”.
Speaking of the interlinked triple crises of energy, food and finance arising from the war in Ukraine, UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently stated that “we can maximize this moment to push for the transformational change our world needs.”
He added that “now is the time to turn this crisis into an opportunity” to work towards progressively phasing out coal and other fossil fuels, and accelerating the deployment of renewable energy and a just energy transition, to address our worsening climate emergency.
An Energy Compact Action Network was also launched to match those governments seeking support for their clean energy goals with those governments and businesses that have pledged over $600 billion to support these commitments.
The UN-Energy Plan of Action Towards 2025 rolled out recently sets out a framework for collective action by nearly thirty UN and international organizations to support, facilitate and catalyze, inter alia, 500 million more people to gain access to electricity, and 1 billion more people to gain access to clean cooking solutions, as well as a 100 percent increase in renewables capacity globally, no new coal power plants in the pipeline after 2021, 30 million jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and doubling annual clean energy investment globally.
