Your Excellency, Ms. Karin Kneissl, Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs of AustriaYour Excellency, Mr. LI YONG, Director-General of UNIDOYour Excellency, Ambassador Chatardova, Presidenet of ECOSOC,Excellencies,Distinguished Participants,Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to join you on behalf of the UN Secretariat at this year’s Vienna Energy Forum.
I wish to join previous speakers in thanking UNIDO and other organizers.
I am delighted that UN-DESA has been invited to support the convening of this Forum.
The issue of energy lies at the heart of both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Billions of people stand to benefit from the achievement of SDG 7 on energy, with its targets on universal access to energy, increased energy efficiency and expanded use of renewable energy.
We must not let those targets down.
Energy is key to addressing many of the challenges the world is facing today, whether to eradicate poverty; to ensure access to basic services such as health, education, clean water and sanitation; to empower the youth and women; to drive sustainable and inclusive industrialization; or to combat climate change. It is a cross-cutting issue, directly affect the implementation of the overall implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
This year’s SDG 7 review at the High-Level Political Forum presents a critical occasion for taking stock, strengthening our energy-related commitments and redoubling our efforts to meet SDG7 targets.
That is why DESA, as the secretariat for the High-Level Political Forum and secretariat for the UN-Energy, has convened a multi-stakeholder Technical Advisory Group to facilitate stakeholder engagement in the review, follow up and implementation of SDG7.
The SDG7 Technical Advisory Group functions as an interface between the Secretariat’s support for the thematic work of the HLPF and technical contributions from both within and outside the UN family.
Over the last several months, the Group members cooperated to produce 27 Policy Briefs, which explore SDG 7 and its targets, including advancing SDG 7 implementation, strengthening interlinkages between SDG 7 and other SDGs, regional perspectives and experiences, and building a sustainable and equitable energy future.
Over 50 organizations from governments, UN entities, international organizations, civil society and other stakeholders, collaborated in this multi-stakeholder effort, including 21 of them from the UN system.
I commend UNIDO for their leadership in supporting the work of the Group.
One of the Group’s outputs is a Global Agenda for Accelerated SDG 7 Action.
Its fundamental message is unmistakable: we must step up and scale up our efforts.
The Global Agenda presents priority actions for the achievement of the SDG 7 targets, including through providing clean-cooking solutions for all, closing the electricity access gap, accelerating transition towards renewable energy and energy efficient solutions, doubling global financing for SDG 7, and enhancing innovation and capacity-building.
It is our expectation that this Global Agenda, together with the results of the Global SDG 7 Conference in Bangkok last February, will help inform inter-governmental discussions at the High-Level Political Forum.
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
To-date, we have seen inspiring examples of action and commitments from around the world.
But we need to double our efforts to realize our collective vision.First, it is critical that the Global Agenda for Accelerated SDG 7 Action be translated into concrete, time-bound action plans and partnerships to move this work forward quickly.
Second, we need to strengthen progress monitoring for SDG7. In this regard, we warmly welcome the SDG7 Tracking Report, jointly prepared by the SDG7 indicator custodians for the first time.
Third, we must also enhance synergies between the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on climate change. In this regard, DESA will convene a global symposium to promote synergies between the 2030 Agenda and climate action, in the fall of this year.
We will continue to strengthen the efforts of the SDG 7 Technical Advisory Group and to assist the UN development system in delivering simultaneously on the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. This includes support for the High-Level Political Forum, the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit 2019 and events related to the UN Decade on Sustainable Energy for All 2014 – 2024.
To create the future we want and leave no one behind, we must seize on all those opportunities and take steps forward.
We are counting on everyone to work together to make the achievement of SDG 7 a reality.
I look forward to the fruitful discussions and outcomes from the Vienna Energy Forum.
I wish the Forum a great success.
Thank you.
It gives me great pleasure to join you on behalf of the UN Secretariat at this year’s Vienna Energy Forum.
I wish to join previous speakers in thanking UNIDO and other organizers.
I am delighted that UN-DESA has been invited to support the convening of this Forum.
The issue of energy lies at the heart of both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Billions of people stand to benefit from the achievement of SDG 7 on energy, with its targets on universal access to energy, increased energy efficiency and expanded use of renewable energy.
We must not let those targets down.
Energy is key to addressing many of the challenges the world is facing today, whether to eradicate poverty; to ensure access to basic services such as health, education, clean water and sanitation; to empower the youth and women; to drive sustainable and inclusive industrialization; or to combat climate change. It is a cross-cutting issue, directly affect the implementation of the overall implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
This year’s SDG 7 review at the High-Level Political Forum presents a critical occasion for taking stock, strengthening our energy-related commitments and redoubling our efforts to meet SDG7 targets.
That is why DESA, as the secretariat for the High-Level Political Forum and secretariat for the UN-Energy, has convened a multi-stakeholder Technical Advisory Group to facilitate stakeholder engagement in the review, follow up and implementation of SDG7.
The SDG7 Technical Advisory Group functions as an interface between the Secretariat’s support for the thematic work of the HLPF and technical contributions from both within and outside the UN family.
Over the last several months, the Group members cooperated to produce 27 Policy Briefs, which explore SDG 7 and its targets, including advancing SDG 7 implementation, strengthening interlinkages between SDG 7 and other SDGs, regional perspectives and experiences, and building a sustainable and equitable energy future.
Over 50 organizations from governments, UN entities, international organizations, civil society and other stakeholders, collaborated in this multi-stakeholder effort, including 21 of them from the UN system.
I commend UNIDO for their leadership in supporting the work of the Group.
One of the Group’s outputs is a Global Agenda for Accelerated SDG 7 Action.
Its fundamental message is unmistakable: we must step up and scale up our efforts.
The Global Agenda presents priority actions for the achievement of the SDG 7 targets, including through providing clean-cooking solutions for all, closing the electricity access gap, accelerating transition towards renewable energy and energy efficient solutions, doubling global financing for SDG 7, and enhancing innovation and capacity-building.
It is our expectation that this Global Agenda, together with the results of the Global SDG 7 Conference in Bangkok last February, will help inform inter-governmental discussions at the High-Level Political Forum.
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
To-date, we have seen inspiring examples of action and commitments from around the world.
But we need to double our efforts to realize our collective vision.First, it is critical that the Global Agenda for Accelerated SDG 7 Action be translated into concrete, time-bound action plans and partnerships to move this work forward quickly.
Second, we need to strengthen progress monitoring for SDG7. In this regard, we warmly welcome the SDG7 Tracking Report, jointly prepared by the SDG7 indicator custodians for the first time.
Third, we must also enhance synergies between the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on climate change. In this regard, DESA will convene a global symposium to promote synergies between the 2030 Agenda and climate action, in the fall of this year.
We will continue to strengthen the efforts of the SDG 7 Technical Advisory Group and to assist the UN development system in delivering simultaneously on the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. This includes support for the High-Level Political Forum, the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit 2019 and events related to the UN Decade on Sustainable Energy for All 2014 – 2024.
To create the future we want and leave no one behind, we must seize on all those opportunities and take steps forward.
We are counting on everyone to work together to make the achievement of SDG 7 a reality.
I look forward to the fruitful discussions and outcomes from the Vienna Energy Forum.
I wish the Forum a great success.
Thank you.
File date:
Monday, May 14, 2018