7. Affordable and clean energy
Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today. Be it for jobs, security, climate change, food production or increasing incomes, access to energy for all is essential. Ensuring access to affordable, reliable and modern energy for all has come one step closer due to recent progress in electrification, particularly in LDCs, and improvements in industrial energy efficiency. However, national priorities and policy ambitions still need to be strengthened to put the world on track to meet the energy targets for 2030.
Read our stories to learn more about SDG Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy
SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy is supported by Energy Development Corporation
News
Carbon & Climate
Analysis: China’s steel industry needs time to transition
Energy transition expert Kou Jingna explores the low-carbon marathon being run in China’s steelmaking powerhouse, Shanxi province.
Policy & Finance
Bursa Carbon Exchange aims to trade Malaysia’s first nature-based carbon credit by first half of 2024
The Malaysian carbon exchange also plans to offer renewable energy certificates for trade on its platform and accept Gold Standard-certified carbon credits later this year in a bid to expand its product offerings.
Policy & Finance
Analysis: How green are Pakistan’s political manifestoes?
The Third Pole looks at the manifestoes of Pakistan’s main political parties in the run up to national elections to see what they promise on green growth, renewables, climate adaptation and mitigation.
Ahead of presidential elections in Indonesia, environmentalists say the candidates have failed to outline clear green policies.
Opinion
The United States' decision to pause permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities does not threaten Asia’s energy security or decarbonisation goals.
Supporting natural gas projects hinders the deployment of clean and renewable energy solutions for developing countries. Instead, nations should receive help in phasing out fossil fuels in line with their climate targets.
Policy & Finance
Can the Philippines fulfill its 2024 climate ambitions?
The Philippines may have boosted its renewables capacity, won a seat on a global climate finance fund, and operationalised a law to curb plastic pollution. But are these measures enough to ramp up the archipelago's low-carbon ambitions?
Punishment awaits the senior officials who allowed Vietnam’s renewable energy quest to go off the rails, despite its apparent initial success.
Carbon & Climate
No finance? No fossil fuel phase-out
Carbon & Climate
What will it take to phase out fossil fuels?
Videos
After 20 years without electricity, more than 50 households in Cebu's poorest district have been provided with solar energy, financed by carbon offsets.
Vietnam's wind market is thriving, but more work lies ahead if the country wants to power its booming economy without imperilling its people and the planet.
Southeast Asian nations are racing to bring clean, affordable power to their people, but one country is outrunning them all. How can states make their renewable energy transition a success?
In gridlocked, smoggy Southeast Asian cities, change is afoot to electrify transport and clear some of the world's most polluted skies. This video documents the pockets of hope for e-mobility around the most climate-vulnerable region.
Podcasts
Green Buildings
‘Sustainability must be accessible’: Arthaland’s CSO on making sustainable real estate in the Philippines a norm
EB Studio
If a real estate development can reduce energy and water consumption – and emit fewer carbon emissions – it is built to last, Oliver Chan tells the Eco-Business podcast. The key, however, is to first educate future homeowners and businesses that going green does not mean breaking the bank.
Energy
Scrutiny, Scope 3 and Asian realities: Petronas sustainability chief on climate action at COP28
The oil and gas sector needs to cut operational emissions faster, Charlotte Wolff-Bye tells the Eco-Business podcast. But slashing fuel output won’t do for the Asian supplier, and it welcomes respectful debate at the climate summit.
In a region where large hydro projects and expanding biofuel plantations coincide with an upcoming coal phaseout, a laissez-faire approach could worsen existing inequalities and mar the success of a clean energy buildout.
Energy
‘Carrots, sticks, and hugs’: Scrutinising Indonesia’s US$20 billion just transition challenge
The populous coal-rich powerhouse has six months to tell investors how it plans to spend G7 money to decarbonise equitably. We ask experts about the risks, strategy, and opportunities.
