Although we are fast approaching five years until the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals, we are still far from achieving SDG7, which calls for universal access to clean, affordable energy.

尽管距离可持续发展目标的最后期限还有五年时间，但我们距离实现可持续发展目标SDG7还有很长的路要走，该目标呼吁普遍获得清洁、负担得起的能源。

Worse, we are in the middle of yet another year that will shatter heat records. Each month since June 2023 – 13 months in a row – has ranked as the planet’s hottest average on record for that month, and June marked the third month in a row that Earth had exceeded the 1.5°C limit set by the Paris agreement.

更糟糕的是，我们正处于又一个打破高温纪录的年份。自2023年6月以来，每个月——连续13个月——都创下了该月地球平均气温的最高纪录，而6月标志着地球连续第三个月超过了巴黎协定设定的1.5°C的限制。

Extreme heat brings extreme weather: longer droughts, record rainfall, more intense storms, and changes in seasonality. Unelectrified communities, who are the least at fault for our warming planet, have the most to lose from these trends.

极端高温带来极端天气：更长时间的干旱、创纪录的降雨、更强烈的风暴以及季节性的变化。而未电气化的社区，他们对地球变暖的责任最小，却最容易受到这些趋势的影响。

A recent analysis by the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency, the United Nations Statistics Division, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization reached a worrying conclusion: we are falling short in our pursuit of SDG7, and current efforts do not look like they are enough to get us back on track.

国际能源署、国际可再生能源署、联合国统计司、世界银行和世界卫生组织最近的一项分析得出了一个令人担忧的结论：我们在追求SDG7方面表现不佳，目前的努力看起来不足以让我们重回正轨。

Since the turn of the century, the share of the global population with access to electricity has grown from just over 75 per cent to 91 per cent. But the pace of progress has fallen behind the rate of population growth.

自本世纪初以来，全球人口中享有电力供应的比例从略高于75%增长到91%。但进展的速度已经落后于人口增长的速度。

Disruptions in energy markets caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and instability in the Middle East have caused the number of people lacking access to electricity to increase for the first time in over ten years, to 685 million people in 2022 – ten million more than in 2021. If this continues, more than 660 million people will still be without electricity in 2030, and our pursuit of SDG7 will have failed.

能源市场因新冠疫情、俄乌冲突以及中东的不稳定而受到的干扰，导致缺乏电力供应的人数在十多年来首次增加，2022年达到6.85亿人——比2021年多出1000万人。如果这种情况持续下去，到2030年，仍有超过6.6亿人将没有电力供应，这将使得我们实现SDG7的目标失败。

While there have been significant strides toward connecting populations across Asia, Latin America, and other parts of the world, Sub-Saharan Africa continues to lag behind and is home to 80 per cent of all people without access to energy globally.

尽管在亚洲、拉丁美洲和其他地区提供电网方面取得了显著进展，但撒哈拉以南非洲地区仍然落后，全球80%的无电人口集中在该地区。

With hundreds of millions of people at risk of being left behind, urgent action is needed to avert more setbacks on the path to SDG7. The current pace of renewable-energy adoption still falls short of what it will take to hit the Paris agreement’s mid-century net-zero targets, and to meet the immediate development needs of those living in energy poverty.

由于数亿人面临被落后的风险，迫切需要采取行动以避免在实现SDG7的道路上遭遇更多挫折。当前可再生能源采用的速度仍不足以实现巴黎协定中世纪中叶净零目标，也无法满足生活在能源贫困中人们的迫切发展需求。

There are still reasons for hope. They are the same reasons that guided my tenure at the Asian Development Bank, and which attracted me to join the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. Achieving SDG7 and solving climate change is possible only if we work together to tackle this race against time.

但是仍然有理由抱有希望。这些理由指导了我在亚洲开发银行的任期，并吸引我加入全球能源联盟以造福人类和地球。只有我们共同努力，才能在这场与时间的竞赛中实现SDG7并解决气候变化问题。

We are already seeing Alliance partners mobilise. This spring, the World Bank and the African Development Bank announced a new, first-of-its-kind partnership to bring electricity to 300 million people in Africa by 2030. This is precisely the level of international collaboration that emerging economies desperately need.

我们已经看到联盟伙伴的动员。今年春天，世界银行和非洲开发银行宣布了一项新的、前所未有的合作伙伴关系，旨在到2030年为非洲3亿人提供电力。这正是新兴经济体迫切需要的国际合作。

To close the gap, we must strengthen existing policies and mobilise greater investment, especially for programs targeting remote and low-income areas where most of the unelectrified population lives.

为了缩小差距，我们必须加强现有政策并动员更多投资，特别是针对偏远和低收入地区的项目，这些地区居住着大多数未实现电气化的人口。

Too much focus and investment in the global energy transition are given to greening the grid and reducing fossil-fuel consumption in wealthy countries. Yet, there seems to be less understanding that consuming more energy is essential to improving the economic prospects of the 685 million people living without electricity, and the hundreds of millions more with unreliable or unaffordable access.

全球能源转型的焦点往往集中在富裕国家的电网绿化和减少化石燃料消耗上，但很多人没有意识到，增加能源消费对于改善6.85亿没有电力供应的人以及数亿无法获得可靠或负担不起电力供应的人的经济前景至关重要。

Ending energy poverty – by providing the “modern energy minimum” of 1,000 kilowatt-hours per person per year – implies enormous additional annual energy demand.

通过提供每人每年1000千瓦时的“现代能源最低标准”来结束能源贫困，意味着每年将有巨大的额外能源需求。

Today, per capita energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, is only 180 kWh, whereas most citizens of rich countries consume 6,000-13,000 kWh every year. If energy-poor countries do not receive the support needed to deliver electricity at scale from renewables, the majority of global emissions by 2050 could derive from them.

今天，撒哈拉以南非洲地区（不包括南非）的人均能源消费仅为180千瓦时，而大多数富裕国家的公民每年消费6000-13000千瓦时。如果能源贫困国家没有从可再生能源提供的电力中得到所需的支持，到2050年，全球排放的大部分可能来自这些国家。

In 2024, the share of global clean-energy investment in emerging markets and developing economies outside China is expected to remain at around 15 per cent of the total.

2024年，新兴市场和发展中经济体（不包括中国）在全球清洁能源投资中的份额预计将保持在总量的约15%。

That is far below what is required to ensure full access to modern energy and meet rising energy demand in a sustainable way. With Nigeria and emerging economies across Africa facing economic crises, international cooperation to unlock climate finance for energy access has never been more urgent.

这远远低于确保所有人获得现代能源并以可持续方式满足不断增长的能源需求所需的水平。随着尼日利亚和非洲新兴经济体面临经济危机，开展国际合作以释放气候融资获得能源变得前所未有的紧迫。

Energy creates opportunity. When investments in electricity are matched with investments in the tools to use that energy productively – solar-powered water pumps, refrigerators, agro-processing machinery, equipment for microenterprises, and essential services like schools and hospitals – incomes grow, productivity rises, new businesses emerge, jobs are created, and people thrive.

能源创造机会。当电力投资与有效利用能源的工具投资相匹配时——太阳能水泵、冰箱、农产品加工机械、微型企业设备以及学校和医院等基本服务——收入增长、生产力提高、新企业涌现、就业机会增加，人们蓬勃发展。

Making these investments a reality will require unprecedented levels of international collaboration. No organisation can do it alone.

实现这些投资需要前所未有的国际合作水平。没有哪个组织可以单独完成。

The world can’t afford another year of backsliding on SDG7, and the only way to reach net zero is through an energy transition that leaves no one behind. This is the moment for bold action. We are ready for it, and I hope the rest of the world is ready to join us.

世界无法承受在SDG7上再次倒退的一年，实现净零的唯一途径是通过一个不让任何人掉队的能源转型。现在是采取大胆行动的时刻。我们已经准备好了，我希望世界其他地方也准备好加入我们。

文章来源：https://www.eco-business.com/opinion/saving-the-faltering-energy-sdg/

By Woochong Um

作者：吴冲