Ensuring Access to Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable and Modern Energy for All

A/RES/74/225View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 19jEnsuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, published in 2019.

What other versions does this mandate have?

10 versions · 2017–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/142

2025A/RES/80/142Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for allLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/211Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for allCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/157Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for allCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/170Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for allCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/210Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for allCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 topics

Energy Policy Renewable Energy Sources Sustainable Development Sustainable Energy

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2020.

2020A/75/265Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

34 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all;

Also takes note of the role and activities of the International Renewable Energy Agency, encouraging the Agency to continue to support its members in the achievement of their renewable energy objectives, as well as the contributions of the International Solar Alliance, and encouraging its work to collectively address key common challenges to the scaling-up of solar energy, as well as the contributions of other international and regional organizations and forums to the global energy agenda;

Welcomes the significant progress recorded with regard to several targets of Sustainable Development Goal 7;

Strongly encourages Governments and other relevant stakeholders to take actions to achieve universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy, increase the global share of new and renewable energy, improve the inclusion of developing countries in energy sector cooperation, where relevant, and increase the rate of improvement in energy efficiency for a clean, low-emission, low-carbon climate-resilient, safe, efficient, modern, affordable and sustainable energy system, given the systemic sustainable development benefits, while taking into consideration the diversity of national situations, priorities, policies, specific needs and challenges and capacities of developing countries, including their energy mix and energy systems;

Calls for ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, as such services are an integral part of poverty eradication measures, human dignity, quality of life, economic opportunity, the combating of inequality, the promotion of health and the prevention of morbidity and mortality, access to education, safe drinking water and sanitation, food security, disaster risk reduction and resilience, climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental impact reduction, social inclusion and gender equality, including for persons affected by humanitarian emergencies;

Underscores the importance of access to cleaner and more efficient and sustainable cooking and heating methods, welcomes ongoing efforts, and in this regard calls for the promotion of an enabling environment at the national and international levels for the increased usage of sustainable, cleaner and more efficient cooking and heating methods in all countries, in particular developing countries;

Encourages Governments, the United Nations system and relevant stakeholders to leverage the cost-competitiveness of renewable energy, especially in off-grid areas, in order to achieve universal energy access, such as by establishing policy frameworks for metering and payment systems, requiring cost comparisons between grid extension and off-grid solutions, facilitating investment by domestic and foreign banks and educating students, communities, investors and entrepreneurs on renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation, among other activities, where feasible and appropriate;

Recognizes the key role that natural gas currently plays in many countries and its potential to expand significantly over the coming decades to meet demand in some countries as well as in new sectors, such as the transportation sector, supporting transitions towards lower-emission energy systems, and calls upon Governments to enhance energy security through the sharing of best practices and knowledge for the security of gas supply and demand;

Supports energy access in accordance with the national needs of developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, to tackle their energy access challenges by identifying the specific needs of each country by mobilizing technical and financial assistance and tools to deploy affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy solutions to tackle the energy access deficit;

Calls upon Governments to expand the use of renewable energy beyond the power sector, taking into account national priorities and constraints, to industry, heating and cooling, construction and infrastructure and, in particular, the transport sector, including through sustainable sector coupling and sustainable and modern bioenergy, in the context of sustainable development, including climate change, and calls for supportive policy initiatives and investments at the national and international levels;

Recognizes that current global progress in improving energy efficiency falls well below the pace necessary to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030, and encourages, in accordance with national laws and regulations, the promotion of widespread energy efficiency initiatives in all economic sectors, the adoption and updating of building performance codes and standards, energy efficiency labelling, the promotion of energy management systems, the retrofitting of existing buildings and public procurement policies on energy, among other modalities, as appropriate, as well as the prioritization of smart grid systems, district energy systems and community energy plans to improve synergies among clean and effective use of traditional resources, renewable energy and energy efficiency, which aim to promote the interconnectivity of clean and renewable energy infrastructure and improve energy efficiency;

Calls for strengthened cooperation at the regional level to promote innovation and facilitate financing, support regional cross-border power grid connectivity, as appropriate, to advance economic integration and sustainable development and share best practices that are responsive to regional needs with regard to Sustainable Development Goal 7 and its interlinkages with the other Sustainable Development Goals, and in this regard encourages Governments to reinforce their energy interconnections, connecting regional energy markets and increasing energy security at the global level;

Calls upon Governments, as well as relevant international and regional organizations and other relevant stakeholders, to combine, as appropriate, the increased use of new and renewable energy resources, more efficient use of energy, greater reliance on advanced energy technologies, including cleaner fossil fuel technologies, and the sustainable use of traditional energy resources;

Encourages Governments, relevant international and regional organizations and other relevant stakeholders to promote investments in developing sustainable, reliable, modern, inclusive and equitable energy systems, including, inter alia, by strengthening energy systems through cross-border grid connections, as appropriate, and to consider incorporating decentralized renewable energy solutions in energy planning, as appropriate, and recognizes that energy transition will take different paths in different parts of the world;

Also encourages Governments, relevant international organizations and other relevant stakeholders to use and promote an integrated resource planning and management approach in their energy strategies that considers energy choices in the context of linked sectors, inter alia, water, waste, air quality and food, taking into account national circumstances;

Recognizes that sustainable energy access and its deployment can be both improved and accelerated by gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and calls upon Governments, the United Nations development system and other stakeholders to increase educational and capacity-building programmes for women in the sector, further advance equal pay and leadership and other opportunities for women in the energy sector, promote women’s full, equal and effective participation and leadership in the design and implementation of energy policies and programmes, mainstream a gender perspective in such policies and programmes and ensure women’s full and equal access to and use of sustainable energy to enhance their economic and social empowerment, including employment and other income-generating opportunities;

Encourages Governments, with the support of relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, to accelerate the transition towards sustainable economies, according to national policies and plans, through mitigation and adaptation strategies that improve energy efficiency and create more and better employment opportunities for all, including young people, in wage and self-employment;

Emphasizes the potential of sustainable energy use to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, recognizes that increasing the deployment of renewable energy and enhancing energy efficiency are components of many countries’ nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,1 and urges effective and timely support for the full implementation of all those contributions, as applicable;

Notes that the impacts of climate change can also threaten access to and the supply of energy, and also notes the importance of increasing the resilience of the energy sector to climate change, which can be facilitated by the expansion of renewable energy;

Emphasizes, while noting progress, that the large-scale deployment of technologies has been insufficient and uneven and that support is required to realize their potential, along with appropriate policy initiatives and investments at the national and international levels, with Governments working in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, including the private sector;

Also emphasizes the value of regional and interregional approaches, which can, among other advantages, enhance the deployment of renewable and sustainable energy by facilitating the sharing of experiences, reduce transaction costs, leverage economies of scale, enable greater cross-border interconnectivity to promote energy system reliability and resilience and augment domestic capacity-building, and recognizes the work of organizations and initiatives in that regard;

Invites all relevant funding institutions and bilateral and multilateral donors, as well as regional funding institutions, the private sector and non-governmental organizations, to continue ongoing efforts and take further action to provide financial resources, as appropriate, to support efforts aimed at ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, including low-emission, low-carbon and climate-resilient new and renewable resources of energy of demonstrated viability, especially focused on energy access and economic development in both urban and rural areas, while noting the potential catalytic effect of concessional and other finance and taking fully into account the development structure of energy-based economies of developing countries;

Encourages the development, dissemination, diffusion and transfer of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on mutually agreed terms, including concessional and preferential terms, and highlights the importance of integrating sustainable energy in the Technology Facilitation Mechanism;

Stresses the importance of strategies and contributions by Governments and relevant stakeholders to multi-stakeholder partnerships in ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, and encourages coordination and collaboration between the United Nations and relevant multi-stakeholder partnerships, such as Sustainable Energy for All;

Recognizes the catalytic effect of the sharing of knowledge and experience, capacity-building and technical assistance on sustainable energy deployment, and encourages existing and new efforts to enable Governments of developing countries and relevant stakeholders to plan, finance, implement and monitor sustainable energy projects to further strengthen their national institutions and capacities;

Encourages the development of viable market-oriented strategies that could result in further rapid reductions in the cost of new and renewable resources of energy and could further increase the competitiveness of those technologies, including through the adoption, as appropriate, of public policies for research, development and market deployment, including rationalizing inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances;

Emphasizes the value of education, academia, technology and entrepreneurship in developing solutions to face energy challenges and achieve energy sustainability, as well as the importance of investing in research and development in sustainable energy technologies, and also emphasizes in this context the urgent need to enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technologies, and improved infrastructures for supplying affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all;

Calls for national efforts to promote access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all and strengthened local engagement to complement current approaches, and reaffirms the commitment to supporting subnational and local efforts, taking advantage of their direct control, where applicable, of local infrastructure and codes to foster uptake in end-use sectors, such as residential, commercial and industrial buildings, industry, agriculture, transport, waste and sanitation;

Encourages the Secretary-General to continue efforts to promote the provision of stable, adequate and predictable financial resources and technical assistance for sustainable energy and to enhance the effectiveness, coordination and full utilization of appropriate international funds for the effective implementation of national and regional high-priority projects for ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, and welcomes the convening of the high-level dialogue on the midpoint review of the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Energy for All (2014–2024), held on 23 and 24 May 2019;

Invites the Secretary-General, with the support of the relevant United Nations system entities, to convene a high-level dialogue in 2021, financed through voluntary contributions, to promote the implementation of the energy-related goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development14 in support of the implementation of the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Energy for All, including the global plan of action for the Decade, as described in the report of the Secretary-General, and the high-level political forum on sustainable development;

Encourages UN-Energy to support coherence and coordination among the energy-related activities of the entities of the United Nations development system, within their respective mandates, in line with the implementation of resolutions 71/243 of 21 December 2016, 72/279 of 31 May 2018 and Economic and Social Council resolution 2019/15 of 8 July 2019, in order to assist countries, in particular at the country level, upon request by their Governments, by explicitly leveraging partnerships with other international organizations, donors and relevant stakeholders, including in their efforts to achieve universal access to sustainable energy and to accelerate its deployment;

Reaffirms the commitment at the very heart of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind and commit to taking more tangible steps to support people in vulnerable situations and the most vulnerable countries and to reach the furthest behind first;

Calls upon the Secretary-General to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency and related sustainable practices in all United Nations facilities and operations around the world, where appropriate and economically viable;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, including activities carried out to mark the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Energy for All, and decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-fifth session, under the item entitled “Sustainable development”, the sub-item entitled “Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”.

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