Rephrasing the United Nations Energy Goal.
On September 25th in 2015 under the United Nations countries got together and adopted a set of 17 sustainable development goals to transform our world for the better. Each of the 17 goals has a specific target to be reached within 15 years. Goal number 7 states: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Now in my opinion this goal is very ambitious. The goal set by the United Nations does not only want to ensure energy access for all but takes it a step higher. The goal contains that the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix needs to increase substantially. I do believe that setting goal number 7 is necessary and important. Setting the goal means that multiple countries have agreed to work together in different types of methods to achieve energy access for all.
Looking at this goal #7 set by the United Nations it seems their goal was not just ambitious but maybe somewhat unrealistic. According to the World Energy Outlook in 2030 there will still be more than 780 million people who will remain without energy access. However there has been major developments and improvements. Even though there are major improvements I believe the goal should be more realistic and should be achievable when set. From everything I have had read and learned I believe there are two most important solutions which are also realistic. Clean cooking stoves should be promoted and marketed in the right way to overcome cultural issues with clean cooking methods and solar lanterns or more advanced solar electricity needs to be promoted more. I think these are the most important solutions to solve health and safety issues. If health and safety issues can be solved, I believe a big step has been made in fighting energy poverty. Therefore, I would like to allow myself to rephrase the United Nations goal #7 to:
SDG#7: Solving global health and safety issues related to a lack of energy access before 2030.
Tim Wierks, IMSD, 2017