Environmental Management Report: The Role of Energy in SDG 7

This report delves into the critical role of energy in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7), which aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. It examines the significance of energy in various sustainable development goals, including poverty eradication and environmental protection. The report discusses the progress made in expanding electricity access, particularly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, while also highlighting the challenges such as the potential for 781 million people to lose electricity access by 2030. The discussion covers the importance of decarbonizing energy systems, promoting renewable energy, and stimulating efficiency to avoid price shocks and ensure energy accessibility for marginalized communities. The report also addresses the links between SDG 7 and other SDGs, such as those related to poverty reduction and air pollution, and the role of energy in enhancing human health and economic opportunities. It further explores challenges in achieving SDG 7, including uncertainties in local skills, technological and business domains, and the impacts of land use and climate change. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for government-driven actions, integrated policy frameworks, and proactive engagement across various levels to ensure the successful attainment of SDG 7 and other sustainable development goals.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
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Introduction
Energy is at the core of several sustainable development goals which range from
intensifying accessibility to electricity, improving clean cooking fuels and reducing the number
of inefficient energy subsidies which impulsively kills millions around the world every year.
Since the past three years, all nations of the world have approved around 17 purposeful policy
goals to eradicate poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity as a significant part of the
United Nations Sustainable Development agenda and declared to attain specific target by 2030
(1). One of these goals universally identified as SDG 7 intends to ascertain high level access to
reasonable, consistent and modern energy for all the nations by the end of the next decade. The
paper will evaluate the role of power in Sustainable Development Goals and challenges in
obtaining efficiency from the SDG 7.
Discussion
The implementation of energy precise sustainable development goals had been recognised
as a landmark in progress in the world towards an advanced sustainable as soon as an equitable
system. The International Energy Agency (IEA) however continues to support these essential
goals with balanced data and projections. It is highly evident that the energy division must be
positioned at the interior of efforts to guide the world on a greater sustainable path (2). However,
according to reports by the Iea.org, there has been witnessed an extensive development in
bringing widespread electricity access SDG 7.1.1 in parts of Asia as well as sub-Saharan Africa.
Byers et al. (2015) have noted that these areas observe many people without proper accessibility
which in recent times has been diminishing to 1.1 billion in 2016 from 1.8 billion in 2000 (3).

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However, by the latest developments, it has been noticed that over 781 people have been
anticipated to be losing the accessibility of electricity into 2030.
According to Malak and El-Beltagy (2014), ensuring the marginalised section of the world
with the smooth accessibility of affordable reliable as well as contemporary energy services
facilitates the goal of poverty abolition (4). Furthermore, de-carbonizing energy systems by
economically promoting renewable and stimulating effectiveness could be consequential in price
shocks if the outflow of change to a low carbon saving is not safeguarded in certain ways. This,
however, could avert collective energy accessibility as a higher level of energy prices would
create critical impediments in recovering the yardstick of living for the world economically
underprivileged sections. Thus investment expenditure for several small-scale renewable power
skills such as domestic solar photovoltaic systems has been witnessed to reduce at a considerable
rate in recent times. In some areas, it is also regarded as a cost-effective power supply choice.
However if skill, innovation development tends to persist in renewable electricity production will
turn into more lucrative in more significant number of regions. This, however, could facilitate
financially deprived communities with high rate of electricity broadcast access to utilise limited
fresh energy resources thus allocating revenue generation.
On the other hand, Chaturvedi and Shukla (2014) are of the perspective that some of the
polar regions of the world have maximum value renewable energy supplies such as biomass and
solar energy in Africa (5). However significant development in utilising these potentials might
aid in reducing financial deficiency as long as the advantages accumulate to local providers. The
SDG 7 goals are openly associated with getting principal reductions in air pollution.

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Furthermore, enhancing the value of air by increasing human health is explicitly vital for
those living in crowded urban regions of both developed as well as fast developing nations.
Anenberg et al. (2013) have noted that as thermal comfort such as heating and cooling as well as
cooking is necessary to high-quality health, it focuses on ensuring smooth ease of access of
reasonable and consistent energy. Energy efficient appliances utilisation such as clean
cookstoves is also regarded as necessary in enhancing internal air quality (6). Thus the role of
power is highly crucial for refrigeration which adds to important food preservation as well as the
supply chain and facilitates in mitigating health hazards related to bacterial contamination.
According to the Abas, Kalair and Khan (2015), access to energy with further expand the broad
area of opportunities for women such as facilitating them to work from home and produce a self-
regulative source of income. Applying renewable along with energy competent technologies can
stimulate modernisation and strengthen local, regional as well as nationwide business and service
goals (7).
However, in the view of Abas, Kalair and Khan (2015), active strategies would necessitate
reducing the unconstructive effects of an outsized scale shift towards renewable power on the
ones presently functioning in the fossil fuels segment. However, reinforced migration may also
be required as fossil fuels expansion has been incredibly intense where renewable energy
developments are located across a broad range of geographic districts. Thus to maintain clean
energy efforts reinforced fiscal agencies all over the world are essential for supplying financial
aid, acclaim and assurance to local entrepreneurs who are putting significant efforts in enacting
change. As Huenteler et al. (2016) have witnessed that de-carbonising energy systems through
the process of upskilling renewable as well as energy efficiency could easily curb the economic
growth of countries (8). Nevertheless, a robust derivation decoupled from environmental

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deprivation and occupation development from supporting and sustaining renewable power along
with energy efficiency knowledge could balance a higher rate of economic expenses related to
this development. Though higher energy expenses make greater energy efficiency associated job
creation, de-carbonising fossil fuel supported energy sources by innovation such as carbon detain
along with storage can elevate the stipulation for a skilled workforce and further generate higher
profitable growth. However, these critical objectives of SDG 7 can be challenged by certain
impediments in obtaining affordable and clean energy.
The significant connections between SDG 7 and SDG 1 focus on targets 1.4 and 1.5.
However, access to contemporary energy form such as power, clean cooking stoves along with
sustainable fuels in 7.1 is regarded to be vital for human development. Such energy value relies
on energy services which are made feasible by current energy forms which can offer unyielding
institution for mitigating financial deficiency issues mainly in the poorest sections of the
developing countries such as the rural and metropolitan communities in South Asia and sub-
Saharan Africa (9). Further to this, de-carbonisation of the global energy system through a
significant upscaling of renewable in 7.2 along with Energy Efficiency 7.3 efforts are highly
needed to radically reduce GHG emissions. However such actions are considered to be inevitable
if the experience of the poor sections of the world to increase other environmental calamities is
to be considerably abridged. However, the essentials uncertainties in obtaining these objectives
lie on the level of local skills and expertise on technological and business domain which will
survive within the individual communities in the next 10 to 15 years (10). These local skills will
primarily focus on the capacity to guarantee the adequacy of energy accessibility provisions
along with significant reliability and affordability.

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Furthermore, according to Abas, Kalair and Khan (2015), there can be witnessed an
uncertain traditional food system which can be mechanised. In addition to this critical
uncertainties lie on what implications would the utilisation of the energy of the efficient food
systems would bring such as food conversation through various energy-related procedures and
refrigeration at the domestic level. On the other hand, the author has shed light on other
significant forms of uncertainties about the type of indirect land uses development will impact
which might elevate through the deployment of bio-energy in a specific country context. Such
land usage signifies the kinds of farming lands throughout the world which are transformed to
other objectives to respond to the altering food and harvest prices. Furthermore, SDG 7 aims for
energy-saving methods such as incorporated transportation along with urban development
strategies which encourage active travel. These urban planning approaches result to improve
health and welfare along with lower rates of diabetes dementia, heart illness or other forms of
diseases. However, Martinot (2016) claims that if the provided urban planning infrastructure
poses disturbing implications the elevated rate of active travel could raise a specific threat of
death and damages from road traffic accidents (11).
However, such a fundamental sustainable goal is posed with significant uncertainty way by
the future climate effect on local atmospheric conditions might tend to impact ambient
concentrations of harmful pollutants in the air. Further to this, enduring impacts of recent
developments in unclean fossil energy infrastructure and means of transport along with the
potentials for retrofitting doors services to producer polluting tendency also uninformed (12).
Furthermore, the way consumer behaviour will change over time is also unclear specifically with
the adaptation of proactive lifestyles which show less reliance on motorised transports.

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According to reports of McCollum et al. (2018), certain forms of clean energy production could
also develop the potential to create new health issues and challenges.
Conclusion
Hence, to conclude it can be stated that with several interactions between different SDG
intentions, it is distinct that government-driven actions and strategies play a diseases role in
ensuring that the constructive outcomes are obtained at a frequent rate with efficient mitigation
of adverse consequences. Furthermore highly integrated policy frameworks with a holistic
perspective with proactive engagement across government units from international to national to
local are also crucial for efficiently obtaining the sustainable development goals.

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