SDGs on UN Building

Our change network

UN-Energy

What is UN-Energy?

UN-Energy was established in 2004 to promote better coordination and collaboration across UN organisations and agencies within the field of energy. The guiding principle for UN-Energy is Sustainable Development Goal 7 – access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030. Through policy advice, knowledge sharing, and joint programming UN-Energy plays an active role in supporting member states to achieve their energy targets.

Read more

The UN-Energy Pledge

In 2021, UN-Energy has committed to mobilize key partners within the United Nations system, Member States, private sector, and civil society to catalyze partnerships, innovation, knowledge and finance to build resilient green economies through achieving a just energy transition and universal clean energy access. The UN-Energy Pledge aims to: 

  • Provide 500 million more people with access to clean electricity
  • Provide 1 billion more people with access to clean cooking solutions across the world 
  • Enable a 100% increase in modern renewables capacity globally and 100% renewables-based power targets established in 100 countries 
  • Enable a 3% annual efficiency improvement in at least 50 countries across the world 
  • Support the creation of 30 million jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency 
  • Re-direct fossil fuel subsidies towards clean energy and end financing for new coal power plant 
  • Reduce annual global greenhouse gas emissions at least by one third in 2025 
  • Double annual clean energy investment globally (relative to the current level) 
  • Raise energy access investment to US$40 billion of which 50% is directed to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). 

 

UNDP’s role 

UNDP’s Administrator, Achim Steiner, serves as co-chair for UN-energy together with Special Representative of the Secretary General for Sustainable Energy for All, Damilola Ogunbiyi. 

UNDP’s own ambitious objective of mobilizing partners to provide sustainable, affordable energy to 500 million additional people by 2025 is  our contribution to achieving the UN-Energy Pledge.  

In addition, UNDP has been engaged in UN-energy's work on energy access and was co-lead on a theme report on energy access published during the 2021 High-Level Dialogue on Energy.  

 

Key activities

UNDP-PS-PALESTINE-SOLAR-ENERGY-PANELS-RECONSTRUCTION-SCHOOL-SDG7-SDG4-EDUCATION-HARDHAT-002.jpg
The 2021 High-Level Dialogue on Energy

In September 2021 UN-Energy hosted the first UN convened meeting on energy in 40 years under the headline - High-Level Dialogue on Energy - bringing together energy agencies, UN agencies, member states, civil society and private sector stakeholders to ramp up ambition.

Find out more
Global Roadmap for Accelerated SDG 7 Action

One of the main outcomes of the Dialogue is a global roadmap for accelerated SDG7 action which presents a strategy for the achievement of universal energy access and energy transition by 2030, including a set of concrete and practical milestones.

Find out more
UN Energy Plan of Action

As part of the High-Level Dialogue on Energy, UN-Energy launched the UN-Energy Pledge, which has been operationalized into a plan of action for UN-Energy towards 2025.

Find out more
Renewable Energy
Energy Compacts

In support of these objectives, more than US$400 billion in new finance and investment was committed by governments and the private sector in the form of Energy Compacts announced during the Dialogue.

Find out more