Integrative Essay: Economic and Social Impact of SDG 7 (WACO1003)

This essay explores the economic and social impacts of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7), focusing on affordable and clean energy, on businesses. The essay argues that engagement with SDG 7 is crucial for economic enterprises, enabling them to achieve a competitive advantage through positive economic and social impacts. The discussion section examines the increasing global energy demands and the need to shift to renewable energy sources, highlighting the industrial sector's significant energy consumption. It further discusses how switching to renewable energy can reduce costs, increase employment opportunities, boost productivity, and enhance brand image. The conclusion reiterates the importance of renewable energy for equitable energy distribution and the competitive advantages gained through responsible energy usage. The essay includes references to support the arguments, as well as a reflective section on academic integrity and plagiarism avoidance.

Running head: IMPACT OF SDG 7
Social and Economic Impact of SDG 7
Student’s name
University
Author’s note

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IMAPCT OF SDG 7
Introduction
The former Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon once remarked
“Energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, social equity, and environmental
sustainability.” (UN.org). The remark emphasizes the significance of energy in human life, as
well as its instrumentality in the context of economic and technological endeavours. Energy
supply and consumptions account for more than 60% of the greenhouse gas emission across the
world, whereas the lack of access to affordable and clean energy deprives more than 1 million
people around the world of opportunities to join the national as well as global progress
(CDP.net). Therefore, it is evident that access to energy and responsible consumption both are
pressing issues to achieve a sustainable future. Moreover, economic enterprises, irrespective of
their size and strength, are the most prominent consumers of energy resources. Hence, it is rather
crucial for the organizations to invest in the innovation and development pertaining to renewable
energy.
To this end, the current essay hypothesizes that engagement with the sustainable
development goal to ensure affordable and clean energy is crucial for economic enterprises, since
it could enable the organization to achieve competitive advantage in terms of positive economic
and social impacts. To evaluate the hypothesis, the essay will therefore explore pertinent
scholarly resources to identify the positive outcomes of the organisations’ commitment to
renewable energy.

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IMAPCT OF SDG 7
Discussion
With the continuous growth of global population, requirement for energy will also grow
proportionately. However, with the limited resource of fossil fuel, it is impossible to ensure
uniform access to energy for everyone. Thus, the cost of energy goes beyond the affordability of
a majority population. Besides, the cheap replacement of clean fuel does not provide clean
energy either. Hence, to ensure clean and affordable energy, the world must gradually shift to
renewable energy sources, which will in turn arrest the resource depletion as well.
According to the reports of the US Energy Information Administration, the industrial
sector consumes more than 54% of delivered energy as compared to any other sectors in the
world (eia.gov). And it is likely to increase by 1.2% per year in the projected 2030 timeframe.
Hence, it is essential for the industrial sectors to construct a judicious and effective plan for
energy usage, given the urgency of the issue of resource depletion and greenhouse gas emission.
However, switching to renewable energy resources is not only a responsibility for the corporate
entities, it is also beneficial for them in terms of cost effectiveness and social interaction (Franco,
Power and Whereat 2020).
To begin with, switching to renewable energy can immediately reduce the cost for power
consumption, as solar or wind energy do not have any raw material cost. It also reduces the risk
of carbon tax imposed on energy sensitive industries. The resulting amount of savings from the
cost reduction can in turn facilitate increased employment opportunities, creating a positive
impact on the society as well (Poddar and Narula 2019). Moreover, the organisations with
serious commitment to environment are likely to develop proactive innovations, which in turn
will boost the productivity and profitability of the organisation. (González-Ramos, Donate and
Guadamillas 2018)

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IMAPCT OF SDG 7
Apart from the visible impact on economy, an affirmative approach to renewable energy
consumption also enhances the brand image of the organisation. Organisations that commit to
using 100% renewable energy would positively play a leadership role in achieving a low carbon
economy. Also, they cater to the growing mass awareness and concern for sustainability, thus
creating a positive stigma among the community (Poddar and Narula 2019).
Conclusion
Access to fossil fuel has enabled all sorts of communities to drive out of poverty,
facilitating occupation, education, health care and so on. However, in recent times, human race
have realized that there is a steep cost to provide energy in every household, owing to its impact
on environment and climate change. Hence, organisations, as the major consumers of energy
resources, must switch to renewable energy to allow an equitable distribution of energy at
affordable cost. Besides, the perceived cost reduction through using renewable energy, the
opportunity of job creation facilitated by the saved capital, innovations as well as the enhanced
brand image gained from committing to the environmental responsibility allow to gain an
evident competitive advantage to them. Therefore, it can be concluded that the organisations that
actively engages in responsible energy usage practices could gain comprehensible competitive
advantages in their course of development.

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IMAPCT OF SDG 7
References
CDP.net (n.d.) Sustainable Development Goals - CDP. [online] Cdp.net. Available at:
https://www.cdp.net/en/policy-and-public-affairs/sustainable-development-
goals#dc70d1d48ebc00fedcc7cbe9a05bb6a9 [Accessed 14 Feb. 2020].
eia.gov (2018). Industrial sector energy consumption. [online] eia.gov. Available at:
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/ieo/pdf/industrial.pdf [Accessed 14 Feb. 2020].
Franco, I.B., Power, C. and Whereat, J., 2020. SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy. In
Actioning the Global Goals for Local Impact (pp. 105-116). Springer, Singapore.
González-Ramos, M.I., Donate, M.J. and Guadamillas, F., 2018. An empirical study on the link
between corporate social responsibility and innovation in environmentally sensitive industries.
European Journal of International Management, 12(4), pp.402-422.
Poddar, A. and Narula, S.A., 2019. A Study of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Practices. Mandated Corporate Social Responsibility:
Evidence from India, p.85.

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IMAPCT OF SDG 7
UN.org (n.d.). SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. [online] UN Australia. Available at:
https://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals/sdg-7/ [Accessed 14 Feb. 2020].
Reflective Essay
Maintaining honesty and academic integrity is an essential part of developing an
academic work. To this end, avoiding plagiarism is imperative to establish the credibility and
authenticity of one’s work. The most important task to avoid plagiarism is to use one’s own ideas
and words while articulating those ideas. However, it is somewhat critical to avoid plagiarism as
students often uses various ideas, information as well as theories to develop their academic
papers. The students can, therefore, use such ideas or information by giving the original writer
their due credit by proper citations and references.
In the present essay, I have tried my best to use my own words while articulating my
thesis and arguments. However, to establish the empirical value of the thesis, I had to use
information and remarks from other researchers. In all such cases, the information is cited duly.
And instead of copying information, I have paraphrased them as per the requirement of the
essay. In the opening statement of the essay, I have directly quoted Ban Ki Moon, and reference
has been duly provided for that quotation.

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IMAPCT OF SDG 7