Energy in the Post-2015 Development Framework

Comments on the OWG “Proposed Goals and Targets on Sustainable Development for the Post-2015 Development Agenda” Document (2 June 2014)

Access to affordable and reliable energy services is crucial to the success of many development areas under the post-2015 framework. Shifting to more sustainable and efficient energy systems within the lifetime of the post-2015 framework is also crucial for tackling climate change – the most serious threat to future poverty eradication.

CAFOD, Christian Aid, ENERGIA, HEDON, HIVOS, IESR, IIED and Practical Action welcome the inclusion and overall framing of an energy goal under the new Open Working Group (OWG) document. The current targets speak to the dual imperative of promoting access to affordable, safe and reliable energy and a shift to sustainable low/zero carbon energy production and consumption globally - as per the objectives of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SE4ALL).

However, we have some suggested changes to the language and content of the current energy goal to ensure these imperatives arefully met. We hope this feedback will be useful for the concluding discussions of the OWG and for future negotiations.

In addition, we would like to highlight that adequate means of implementation, including technology transfer and additional financial and technical support is essential to ensure poorer countries can adopt low or zero carbon energy systems and provide access to affordable, sustainable and reliable energy services for all their citizens.

In particular, energy poverty and the range of crosscutting issues within the post-2015 development agenda cannot be meaningfully addressed without increased financial, political and technical support for decentralised (off-grid) energy provision, particularly for electricity.According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), to reach the target of universal access by 2030, at least 55percent of new electricity generation will have to come from decentralised (mostly renewable) energy sources.

Recommendations for future discussions around energy in the post-2015 development agenda

Proposed Goal7 - Ensure access to affordable, sustainable, SAFE AND reliable modern energy services for all

  • Comment –we recommend adding the word “safe” to the goal, as this is also a crucial aspect of modern energy services.

7.1by 2030 ensure universal access to AFFORDABLE, sustainable, SAFE AND RELIABLE modern HOUSEHOLD, PRODUCTIVE AND COMMUNITY energy services for ALL

  • Comments - The post-2015 process should move beyond access defined as basic household energy to a ‘total energy access’ approach where households, enterprises and communities have sufficient, reliable and affordable access to the full range of energy supplies and services required to eradicate poverty and support sustainable development. The current OWG energy goal requires targets that speak to a meaningful and holistic definition of ‘access’ and can capture development outcomes including gender equality. This requires targets and indicators to measure the affordability, quality and reliability of energy services provided to end-users, rather than ones that merely capture energy supply through grid connection or megawatts of power generated.
  • The package of energy and cooking services included in Tier threeof the SE4ALL Global Tracking Framework should be the baseline for measuring access. Concrete targets and indicators are also needed to address the gendered aspects of energy poverty.Tier three comprises a low but adequate level of electricity available for eight hours a day, a package of energy services including lighting, phone charging, radio and television and an electric fan, food processing applications or a washing machine. For cooking, it would mean at least the use of a rice cooker and good quality solid fuel stove which met a set of requirements for maintenance, convenience and appropriateness to end-user needs. Tier three thus has an outcome-based approach looking at quality of service. It also holistically addresses poor people’s energy needs through a basic but respectable package of wider energy and cooking services.
  • INCREASE the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix TO 45% OF ALL PRIMARY ENERGY USE AND INFRASTRUCTUREby 2030
  • Comments – Under any energy goal, targets on renewables and efficiency must incentivise sufficient action to keep global warming in check by 2030, by keeping well below the agreed 2°C warming limit. This means increasing the current SE4ALL 2030 targets.[1]
  • By 2030, at least 45% of all primary energy use and energy infrastructure must come from renewable energy. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the post-2015 framework should have an energy goal to support ‘a scenario to meet the range of 655 to 815 GtCO2eq between 2012 and 2050 in line with the global carbon budget to not exceed 1.5 degrees.’ (2014).

7.3INCREASE the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency ANNUALLYTO 4.5% by 2030

  • Comment – An annual global rate of improvement in energy intensity (energy/unit GDP) of at least 4.5percent by 2030 is needed for a below 2°C warming trajectory.)

7.4by 2030 increase by x% globally the share of RENEWABLE energy technologies, including sustainable biomass and advanced cookstoves

  • Comment – our recommendation is to remove this target as it does not add to 7.1 & 2 (in revised form)

7.5by 2030 phase out [INEFFICIENT - REMOVE] fossil fuel PRODUCTION ANDconsumption subsidies with ADEQUATE PROTECTION FOR POOR AND VULNERABLE GROUPS

  • Comment - the post-2015 framework should incentivise the shift to sustainable energy globally by supporting the removal of fiscal incentives for the production and consumption of fossil fuels, with adequate protection for poor and vulnerable groups.

7.6 by 2030 expand and upgrade as appropriate infrastructure for supply, transmission and distribution of modern and renewable energy services in rural and urban areas, including with a view to doubling primary energy supply per capita for LDCs

  • Comment - our recommendation is to remove this target as it does not add to 7.1 & 2 (in revised form) and focuses on increasing supply, rather than on meeting demand for sustainable, affordable, safe and reliable energy in LDCs.

Energy-related targets in other goal areas

The broad development impacts of energy poverty make integrating energy targets and indicators in other goal areas crucial. Progress in many development areas is intrinsically linked with access to energy. As outlined in the previous Focus Areas Document, these ‘nexus’ areas include: food security, education, health, water, gender equality, sustainable consumption and production, and climate change.

A comprehensive and integrated approach to energy under the post-2015 framework – rather than isolating it within an energy goal – would be the most effective. We think this approach will also incentivise actors in different sectors to work together, leading to coherent and comprehensive action, and cross-sectoral buy-in to the goals.

We welcome the inclusion in the current Focus Areas document of some targets under other goal areas that acknowledge the crucial role played by access – or lack of it - to sustainable, affordable and reliable energy services For instance, the target on reducing deaths by indoor air pollution under the Health goal.

However, we recommend the additional changes below to the existing targets to create greater coherence and maximise synergies between the different goal areas. Specifically, this would recognize the role of energy as a crucial enabler in many development areas.

2: FOOD SECURITY

2.3 - our recommendation is to add tothe end of the target“by ensuring access to reliable sustainable and affordable energy”

3: HEALTH

3.9- our recommendation is to change to“by 2030ERADICATEthe number of deaths and MINIMIZEillnesses by indoor and outdoor air pollution”

4: EDUCATION

4.1 - our recommendation is toadd to the end of the target “supported by appropriate energy and communications infrastructure”

5: GENDER EQUALITY

It is crucial to refer to access to energy in this goal. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to health problems and early mortality related to dirty cooking and heating fuels, making up the majority of adult deaths from indoor air pollution. Investments in women’s access to energy services for enterprise development can also play a crucial role in their economic empowerment. As women spend a high proportion of their earned income improving the health, education and wellbeing of their families, empowering women economically results in wider, inter-generational development benefits.

5.7 - our recommendation is change toto “including financial services, ICT AND SUSTAINABLE, RELIABLE, SAFE AND AFFORDABLE ENERGY”

6: WATER

6.6 - our recommendation is change to“ensure sustainable and ENERGY EFFICIENT extraction and supply of fresh water”

8: SUSTAINABLE & INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH

8.11 - our recommendation is change to“support the development of AFFORDABLE, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure”

9: SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIALISATION-

9.11 - Our recommendation is thatthe target on“Retrofitting of existing industries with clean technologies” should be consistent with the aim of reaching a global annual rate of improvement in energy intensity of 4.5%, as per 7.3 above.

Means of implementation for access to sustainable, affordable, reliable and safe energy services

Again, the broad development impacts of energy poverty make it essential to ensure consistency and adequacy between the targets and means of implementation, including ensuring that means of implementation are adequate to ensuring access to sustainable, affordable, safe and reliable energy as an enabler of development.

17.19 - Our recommendation is to change to“ESTABLISH LOCALISED CENTRES OF TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE AND BEST PRACTICEto facilitate developing countries’access to AFFORDABLE, RELIABLE, SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE energy SERVICES, including through appropriate partnerships BETWEEN GOVERNMENT, PRIVATE SECTOR AND CIVIL SOCIETY”

  • Comments– there needs to be greater investment in providing poorer countries with access to appropriate technical expertise, technologies and financing for delivering modern energy services. However, technological solutions and a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach are extremely unlikely to result in effective scaling-up of services.
  • What is also needed is investment in developing and implementing ‘bottom up’, participatory approaches to designing and delivering services that will ensure the real energy needs and wants of end-users are met and services are appropriate for varied socio-cultural contexts. This requires developing methodologies and best practice to enable poor men and women and civil society to engage as active participants in energy decision-making.

17.20 – Our recommendation is to change to“ensure additional public and private sector investmentIN AFFORDABLE, sustainabLE, SAFE and reliable energy services, particularly in decentralized ENERGY and in MULTI-STAKEHOLDER public-private and civil society partnerships”

  • Comments–Investment in decentralized (mostly renewable) energy is crucial to achieving universal access to energy. This is particularly true for electricity. It is more feasible, sustainable and cost-effective to connect many rural populations – who form the vast majority of the energy poor – to off-grid energy sources than to grids.
  • Financing energy services for the poorest usually requires a combination of public-private partnerships, social enterprise initiatives and national government investment. Increasingly, social enterprises and small and medium enterprises are employing innovative finance mechanisms, including carbon finance (largely through the voluntary market), crowd-funding and investment from angel investors.
  • The design of payment systems for affordability and to suit local end-users’ preferences is also essential, including pay-as-you-go models and flexible payment schedules.
  • Government incentives might include tax breaks, reduction of import duties, and public procurement programmes, while social protection schemes may serve an important purpose in meeting the needs of the very poorest.

June 2014

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[1]The increase in energy supplies required to achieve universal access should not increase the threat from climate change: it is estimated that achieving universal access to energy by 2030 would only increase current global energy demand by an estimated 1% and CO2 emissions by 0.6%. IEA, 2011. Energy For All: Financing access for the poor. In: World Energy Outlook 2011. IEA, Paris. In terms of global emissions, recent analysis by Climate Analytics and Ecofys (4 June) states that for a high probability (more than 85%) of keeping temperatures below 2°C, fossil fuel emissions must be phased out between 2045-65 and greenhouse gases fall to zero between 2060- 2080 with likely negative emissions after 2080. See: