The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires countries to pursue concerted and accelerated action on energy in their national programmes. In order to understand the full implications of the development imperatives, countries need to apprehend what has been agreed both in their own national contexts and from others’ perspectives. Only then can the diverse development pathways be pursued efficiently. The Seventh International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development (Baku, Azerbaijan - 18-21 October 2016) provides the opportunity to reflect on the challenges ahead and to agree on ambitious and concrete measures.
The objective of the Seventh Forum is to explore how to deliver on the national commitments, such as the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs, which would then become NDCs) in support of achieving the climate change mitigation and adaptation goals outlined in the Paris Agreement, including investment in renewable energy as a means of reducing the carbon intensity of the energy sector. The potential solutions to be agreed at an Energy Ministerial at the outset of the Eighth International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development in Astana, Kazakhstan, on 11 June 2017, as a major stepping-stone in the history of this international fora process, will also be discussed in the framework of Baku Forum.
The International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development, an annual event since 2010, has made major contributions to the global dialogue on implementing the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative. The Seventh Forum is jointly organized by the Government of Azerbaijan, the United Nations Regional Commissions, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the World Bank, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency (C2E2), the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It will combine a high-level policy dialogue with plenary sessions, parallel workshops and site visits over four days.
The Forum will assemble over 400 international energy experts, government officials, and representatives from the business community, financial sector, academia and civil society to share perspectives on how the SDGs can be implemented. It includes International Renewable Energy Conference and the annual sessions of the UNECE Group of Experts on Renewable Energy and Group of Experts on Energy Efficiency for the first time. Among the parallel workshops are the Seminar on Policy Reforms for Renewable Energy Investments, the Workshop on Pathways to Sustainable Energy, the Workshop on Promoting Energy Efficiency in Azerbaijan and Other Countries of the Region, the Workshop on Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform, the Workshop on Energy Trade and Inter-grid Connectivity in Central Asia and the Caucasus, the SPECA Thematic Working Group on Energy, Water and Environment, the Workshop on data quality and interpretation in the context of the Global Tracking Framework, and the Workshop on the Role of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in Renewable Energy Planning.
Forum materials are available at: http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=42643#/