United Nations - High-Level Political Forum, with a focus on Water and Energy

By JJB

The 2018 United Nations' High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development is currently taking place in New York City from July 9th to July 18th, including a ministerial meeting from July 16th to the 18th. The theme of this year's HLPF is: "Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies". The full program can be found here.

The High-Level Political Forum is the United Nations' central platform for follow-ups and progress reviews around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It provides a participatory opportunity for all States that are members of the United Nations or of specialized agencies.

View on the flags from inside the United Nations. Photo: EUPlanet

Water and energy (two intertwined topics which EUPlanet covered several times recently, for example here and here) are among the SDGs that are being reviewed in detail in this year's HLPF. Several documents and reports were produced in advance, in order to help structuring the debate on those topics.
For instance, the 2018 progress report on SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) can be found here and futher pieces of information are provided here. A two-page summary is available here.
Regarding SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), an extensive report on policy briefs was provided here. A two-page summary can be found here.

During HLPF, this "Ecological Living Module" at the UN showcases sustainable solutions, incl. for energy and water. Photo: EUPlanet

On July 9th, SDG 6 on water and sanitation was discussed in detail at the United Nations' during a three-hour session.
One important aspect of these discussions was the fact that SDG 6 is a goal that is very deeply connected to other SDGs, because water is a central element to so many aspects of sustainable development. For example, initiatives to fight hunger in developing countries may lead to increased use of water for agriculture and to more water pollution from livestock, as pointed out by Claudia Sadoff, Director of the International Water Management Institute. Thus, Sadoff highlighted, there may be many synergies between SDGs, but there may also be trade-offs. However, various solutions may help to address this issue, such as new irrigation techniques, changes in diet or solar-powered sanitation, she argued. Also, according to Sadoff, modern cities should be capable of absorbing water types from different origins (e.g. storms, floods, recovered waste water) and using them according to the respective water qualities.
Similarly, Lucía Ruiz, Vice Minister of Environment of Peru, emphasized the importance of integrating indigenous and ancestral knowledge of water management into local and national strategies, including water resources shared by several nations, such as the Amazonas.
Following the presentations of the panelists, the discussion with worldwide representatives in the audience helped to further underline additional aspects, such as the importance of long-term funding and capacity building. Other discussed topics included innovative financing solutions (including bottom-up or neighborhood projects as well as micro-finance) and smart usage of data and pathway forecasts.
Indeed, according to Danilo Türk (Chair of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace, former President of Slovenia), international funds for water projects (dubbed "Blue Funds" by a Senegalese participant) could contribute to achieving SDG 6 by 2030, in addition to water strategies that empower "each member of the investment community" to participate in local projects.
When asked about interconnections between SDG 6 and other SDGs, Claudia Sadoff mentioned, in addition to her statements on water-related aspects of agriculture and smart cities, that SDG 6 is also deeply linked to SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy). Not only can solar-powered sanitation help to address water pollution, but most renewable energies also require much less water for cooling purposes, compared to thermal and nuclear power plants.

HLPF review session on SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy). Photo: EUPlanet

This was also reiterated during the three-hour session of in-depth review of SDG 7, on Tuesday July 11th. Notably, Adnan Z. Amin (Director-General, the International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA) and Hans Olav Ibrekk (Policy Director, Energy and Climate Change, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) emphasized the link between SDG 6 and SDG 7, as well as the potential benefits of renewable energies.
Many panelists and participants shared an optimistic outlook on the dynamic growth of clean energy solutions, particularly in the field of electricity, where renewables and batteries achieved remarkable cost reductions (and are poised to continue to do so, according to Amin). Furthermore, the share of access to electricity among the world's population has grown from 78% to 87% from 2000 to 2016, while the absolute number of people living without access to electricity is now below 1 billion. In this context, the role of off-grid solutions should also be highlighted: according to Amin, 50% of those who will gain access to electricity between now and 2030 will do so thanks to off-grid solutions such as mini- and microgrids or stand-alone photovoltaics.
However, it was also highlighted that the world is not yet on track to address the issue of safe, clean and affordable energy for cooking. According to the UN's statement, "41 per cent of the world's population (almost 3 billion people) continue to lack access to clean cooking solutions. From 2000 to 2016, 1.4 billion people gained access to clean cooking fuels and technologies. However, these advancements were mostly offset by population growth during this period. Almost 4 million people, mostly women and children, are dying annually due to household air pollution due to inefficient cooking". The urgency of this grave situation was emphasized by a large number of participants and panelists. As Sheila Oparaocha (Executive Director of ENERGIA, Zambia) argued, this issue also requires a thorough analysis of home/kitchen design and food-related processes, as well as a critical reassessment of gender dynamics.
Furthermore, as pointed out by Laurence Tubiana (CEO of the European Climate Foundation), despite positive trends in the energy industry, the "battle is not won yet", as worldwide energy-related carbon emissions increased in 2017 instead of decreasing. Tubiana argued that additional efforts were needed, such as achieving a carbon-free electricity supply on a global scale by 2050, building on current progress in renewables integration and grid management. Similarly, Amin affirmed that about 1 trillion USD of worldwide clean energy investments would be needed every year in order to reach the SDG 7 goal by 2030; those investments would by worthwile, according to Amin, given their vital impact on sustainable development.
Further topics discussed by panelists and participants were carbon-free transportation, bottom-up empowerment and gender aspects of energy strategies, innovative financing solutions, carbon pricing, the role of nuclear energy, carbon emissions from mineral exploration industries, the role of subsidies for renewables and fossil fuels, and clean energy as a motor for power reliability, job creation and economic diversification, especially in developing countries. The importance of Research & Development efforts was also underlined by a participant from South Korea (citing for example Artifical Intelligence and Cloud technologies) and by the host Amin, quoting in particular e-mobility as one of the main fields of research on emerging clean energy technologies.

Testing device for quality assessments of solar cookers. Photo: EUPlanet

Concerning the much-discussed dire need for clean cooking solutions, several NGOs presented their projects during an event on Thursday, July 12th. For instance, Solar Cookers International (SCI) developed the testing device shown above, allowing this NGO to test various solar cooking devices from any manufacturer, in order to ensure industry-wide quality standards and comparability. This testing device is compliant with the ISO standards for performance measurement in cooking devices, which were adopted only a few weeks ago.
In addition, SCI and Solar Cities presented some of their work in Haiti, empowering local communities to embrace biodigesters and solar cookers in order to solve the country's energy shortage and to create opportunities for community engagement and economic development. The Public-Private Alliance Foundation (PPAF), which initiated the event, also presented some of their experiences of working in Haiti, through renewable energy projects such as biodigesters and solar cookers, or through microfinance, handicraft and manufacturing.
A silent auction was also organized, in order to raise funds for new projects in Haiti, allowing participants to buy Haitian items such as paintings, rum, handicraft.

Paintings at the Haitian benefit auction. Photo: EUPlanet

Rum-tasting for the auction, as well as Solar Cities information material. Photo: EUPlanet

Indeed, many more efforts are needed to reach the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Many of today's technologies and habits will have to evolve, and a lot of investments will be needed. Yet, remarkable coordination efforts are being carried out at the United Nations, and many individuals are committed to implement concrete projects that improve people's lives and empower them to create their own solutions and opportunities.

United Nations - Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation

By JJB

This week, the third annual Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) took place at the United Nation's headquarters in New York. This forum is also known as the "annual collaborative Multi-stakeholder Forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)". Indeed, the United Nations adopted 17 SDGs in order to structure and coordinate the world's efforts to reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Forum on STI is part of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism that aims to support the efforts of reaching the SDGs.

Banner of the STI Forum at the UN Headquarters

A large variety of topics were discussed during the STI Forum, thus reflecting the fact that the SDGs are multidisciplinary and cut across all sectors of economy and society.
For example, during the panel discussion on SDG 6 (sustainable management of water and sanitation for all), Hungarian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, Katalin Annamaria Bogyay, argued that this goal needed to be addressed systematically, by strategies that are also closely linked to SDG 5 (gender equality).

Discussion in the UN's large auditorium 4 on SDG 11: Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Cities

Despite the interdependent nature of sustainability and the SDGs, this blog article will focus on some main aspects around the Food-Water-Energy nexus, which was also the topic of this blog's previous post.

The interconnection between food-, water- and energy-related sustainability efforts was highlighted for example during the session on SDG 12 (sustainable consumption and production patterns). The Inga Foundation presented their projects promoting soil- and water-improvements by planting Inga Trees as agricultural component, allowing farmers to escape the vicious cycle of poverty and Slash-and-Burn practices in rain forest areas, therefore also reducing deforestation and protecting biodiversity.
The trend of decentralization, as well as its opportunities for enhancing sustainability, were discussed in the same session, for example by NYU energy researchers and by urban farming experts from Madagascar.
In the follow-up session on SDG 15 (sustainable terrestrial ecosystems), Inger Elisabeth Måren, from the University of Bergen, Norway, laid out a similar argument in favor of local and indigenous agricultural knowledge. According to Måren, those smaller local farms, their surroundings and other decentralized sources still provide a majority of the global food supply, while the share of big argicultural corporations is still much smaller than one might expect. Harnessing and empowering this local knowledge could foster biodiversity and agricultural efficiency in unique ways, as many speakers of the STI Forum agreed. In contrast, new technologies such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence were seen on the one hand as very promising, game-changing opportunities, but on the other hand also as a threat to jobs in particular in countries identified as Least Developed Countries (LDCs), where many rely on small-scale farming.

This underlined once more the importance of keeping an effective overview and a (sustainability-oriented) control of development strategies and their multiple effects across all economic and society sectors. In this spirit, Jack Metthey (Deputy Director-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission) for example highlighted the importance of tackling energy and climate issues in a comprehensive way, and Jim Watson (Director of UK Energy Research Centre and University of Sussex) argued that high-level sustainability roadmaps may be important, but that capacity building was almost equally as important. As examples for capacity building measures, Watson quoted for instance training and human resources, efficient institutions capable to follow up on implementation progress, as well as a sufficient long-term funding.

New ways of platform collaboration

By JJB

The aim of this article is to describe participation platforms that enable new forms of online collaboration on a range of sustainability and social projects. However, this is not to endorse every single project or opinion supported by these platforms. Instead, the goal is to start listing up platforms that have successfully proven to empower people to implement projects... in order to help us empower each other.  

This list is not exhaustive and shall be updated whenever possible. Please feel free to reach out or leave a comment if you know of an initiative that should be included in this list.

Perspective Daily

Perspective Daily is a German online portal for constructive journalism. The idea is to support and spread journalism that analyzes problems and - equally as important - existing, realistisc solutions. Their goal is to move away from sensational headline-driven journalism, towards an empowering journalism that improves the lives and actions of their readers.

Solar Cookers International (SCI) - Solar Cooking Wiki 
SCI's database is a way for users to find solar cooking expertise. On the one hand, they can do so by clicking on “Build a cooker” or “Buy a cooker”, to see information on different types of solar thermal cookers and how to purchase or build them. 
On the other hand, they can click on “Find your country”, to see a list of countries across the world in which projects have already been implemented. This helps increase visibility and to connect people locally in order to share their best practices.
This way, the database may bring together people and allow them to promote projects, discuss and help each other to build the capacity to use solar cooking as a tool for development and empowerment.

By using the heat of the sun for cooking/making water safe to drink, solar cookers not only preserve the environment and mitigate severe health problems caused by smoke intoxication. Solar cookers also allow families and communities to spend time and money on more rewarding activities, instead of surveilling the fireplace, spending hours to collect wood or using scarce financial means to purchase fuel or wood.
Moreover, solar cooking is a simple, scalable, affordable way to contribute to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

Global Citizen 
According to their website, "Global Citizen is a movement of engaged citizens who are using their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030. On [their] platform, Global Citizens learn about the systemic causes of extreme poverty, take action on those issues, and earn rewards for their actions - as part of a global community committed to lasting change." Indeed, users can earn rewards by participating in social projects. In return, these rewards can be used to purchase concert tickets for example, allowing participants to see some of today's most famous musicians and performers.

Bettervest
Bettervest is a Germany-based crowd investment platform that allows users to invest money in sustainable energy-related projects around the world, starting from as little as 50 EUR, with returns on investment ranging from 4 to 12%. It requires the will to take some risk (read their disclosure and Terms&Conditions before you make your decision; EUPlanet cannot be held responsible), as there is no guarantee that the project's return rate will be fully met, but the team's long list of successful projects might reassure the user.

Wiseed
Similar to Bettervest, Wiseed is a French platform for crowd investments that initially featured only investment opportunities in energy- and sustainability-related projects. However, they have diversified since then, and now also offer real estate opportunities and other types of crowd investment. Yet, their sustainability branch is still functional, which justifies including Wiseed in this list. 
As for Bettervest: read Wiseed's disclosure and Terms&Conditions before you make your investment decision, as some risk is involved and EUPlanet cannot be held responsible.

UN Commission on the Status of Women - Renewable energy as a tool for empowerment

UN Commission on the Status of Women - Renewable energy as a tool for empowerment

By JJB

Last March 13-24 2017, the sixty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 61) took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Despite the severe blizzard that struck the area during that time, participants gathered from around the globe, in order to interact, discuss and share thoughts during several get-togethers, debates and events.

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) works as part of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the UN’s principal organs. Other well-known principal organs of the United Nations are, for example, the UN General Assembly or the UN Security Council. In this institutional framework, the CSW holds a central position for the advocacy of gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

Here is a link to a document that describes the CSW a bit further, from the perspective of participating Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Indeed, NGOs are an important link between the UN and civil society. Therefore, it was no wonder that numerous NGOs were present again at this year’s CSW 61, at a large variety of conferences and parallel events. 

One of these gatherings took place on Saturday, March 18^th, bringing together such diverse actors as the Hunger Project, UNICEF’s working group on girls, Solar Cookers International and the Swedish platform project Flickaplattformen (a cooperation partner of the Hunger Project Sweden).
The discussed topics included persisting gender inequalities in Sweden (and their meaning on a global scale), empowerment of women in rural Africa in their everyday life… and solar cooking as a valuable contribution to this type of empowerment in many parts of the world. Solar cooking is not only better for the environment than traditional cooking, but it is also an easier, cheaper and healthier cooking solution for many women who take care of their families under extremely hard conditions - conditions which, in return, limit these women's educational and economic perspectives (and as written in 2014 on this blog, the International Energy Agency estimates that 600,000 people die each year in Africa due to smoke intoxication caused by inappropriate cooking devices, and that in sub-Saharan Africa alone, 620 million people, i.e. 2 thirds of the population, have no electricity and almost 730 million people use inefficient or dangerous cooking devices). 
Additionally, as also discussed by the conference’s participants, introducing this new cooking technology in local communities can represent an occasion to break traditional patterns and to raise the interest of everybody, women and men, to take on household tasks such as cooking.

Overall, one of the key takeaways for the participants of this event was the strong feeling that individual efforts are not merely isolated “drops on a hot stone”… but that all these pursuits of positive change are interconnected and shared among many people across the planet. All this good energy is never lost.

This article was also published in the "SCI Digest" newsletter of Solar Cookers International (Vol 11, June 5th 2017).
For the archive of past issues of the "SCI Digest", please click here.