DEVELOPMENT

Rana Ghoneim (RG) is UNIDO’s Chief of Energy Systems and Infrastructure Division. She spoke to Arthur Muliro (AM) and Passy Amayo Ogolla (PO) of the SID Secretariat in a wide-ranging interview that highlighted the challenges of achieving sustainable energy for all and how the SDG7 agenda is inextricably linked to the climate change agenda.

With the re-emergence of Somalia after 31 years of a struggle for rescue, survival and co-existence, the country is once again on the right track and the century seems to be Somalia’s. Three main areas make interesting milestones: Somalia’s position vis-à-vis current developments in the East and Horn of Africa, the ongoing ‘indirect’ elections and ongoing, but natural, post-conflict reconstruction in Somalia. Somalia has made significant improvement, and, despite its handling of recent domestic difficulties, it also resisted international pressure, in order to preserve national sovereignty. There are several issues; too much external interference, an imposed ‘federal’ system of governance, and the interim constitution is not yet official. On all the conferences held outside Somalia, there was also a debate as to whether they were politically oriented peace ‘talks’ or genuine peace ‘processes’. This means there is also a more interesting debate as to whether there has been any kind of ‘elections’. If the past is of any guide, however, and we know issues come and go, Somalia will resurface, elections will be held and a more meaningful post-conflict reconstruction conducted as the ongoing process shall help effect change and the new government will be completely different in terms of mandate, body politics, and institutional competence. This includes a more meaningful post-conflict reconstruction and development for the entire country; one which helps Somalia learn from other strikingly similar and profound variations from African countries, for example, post-apartheid South Africa and post-genocide Rwanda, and make real efforts toward re-establishing justice by significantly investing in economic growth, infrastructural development and social service delivery, including quality education.

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, in his address to the UN General Assembly called the world leaders to bridge the divide among generations. There is no current issue that divides the generations more, than the urgency of climate action and accelerating clean energy transition. With the COP26 in Glasgow behind us, and less than 10 months until COP27 in Sharm-el Sheikh what can and should be done to encourage this inter-generational dialogue? How can young people and the civil society exercise their power to push the climate justice agenda forward?

Universal energy access currently looks unachievable according to predictions based on current data. This affects Africa most, as has been observed with the effects of COVID-19 leading to a reversal in gains. The world’s ambitious climate goals, which also require the achievement of clean cooking show that there is an opportunity for a shift. Channeling climate finance towards decentralized renewable energy and clean cooking can support achievement of universal energy access through more localized action.

The world is far off track from achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 target for universal access to clean cooking by 2030 owing to a lack of prioritization. Breaking this impasse requires transformative public- and private-sector solutions and large-scale investments that can improve the overall cooking ecosystem with end users’ needs at the centre. Recent trends in designing more effective solutions are gaining momentum. By working together with a ‘heart-head-and-hands approach’, stakeholders can move the needle forward on clean cooking, and in the process, contribute to the SDGs for health and well-being, women’s empowerment, and a cleaner environment.

The governance literature is characterized by general claims regarding the changing nature of governance or the ‘governance turn’, with the main argument being that ‘centralized’ or ‘state-centred’ governance is increasingly being replaced by multilevel governance. This article provides evidence of different degrees of decentralization of renewable energy governance in European Union and Gulf Cooperation Council countries, focusing on the complexity of the relevant policy mixes.

One of the most repeated notions in the governmental, business, and even academic narrative around wind and solar megaprojects in Yucatan is that of the supposed ‘shared social benefits’, which assumes that these developments, based on a capitalist economic model of profit accumulation, seek to ‘share’ economic and social advantages with the communities. Among the supposed ‘social benefits’, the companies and promoters of these types of projects list, for example, payment for the usufruct of land, the installation of ‘open houses’, or the construction of small public infrastructure projects such as the roofing of sports fields. However, as I point out in this brief reflection, these are social practices and mechanisms conceived and narrated from a situation of marked economic-political inequality and based on the needs and interests of companies that serve to reinforce their access to stock market financing and gain social legitimacy, co-opting social mobilization under these mechanisms necessarily paid for through dispossession. Therefore, in this article, I seek to begin drawing and questioning the edges of the ‘benefactor discourse’.

Energy sustainability goes beyond the search for sustainable energy sources and implies sustainable energy systems. That is, systems energy sustainability that uses sustainable energy resources and process, store, transport, and utilize those resources sustainably. Overall sustainable development, in general, requires the simultaneous achievement of environmental, economic, and social sustainability.

This article examines the impact on developing countries of some of the initiatives under the Trade and Environment Agenda, namely agreement on environmental goods and services, carbon border adjustment mechanisms and the circular economy. It highlights the need for a positive international Trade and Environment Agenda which could facilitate green technology transfers, provide additional finance to developing countries and adequate policy and fiscal space that could help developing countries’ progress on their trade, environment, and development goals.

This research article analyzes the electrification of light-duty vehicles and its implications on equity and justice paradigm within a pro-green policy environment. The case of Costa Rica is investigated as the country has already gained considerable momentum in decarbonizing its economy and considers the transportation as the next step in its sectoral transformation. We evaluate the transition through different lenses of sustainability, equity and justice using socio-technical system transition and the energy justice frameworks. The outcome of the analysis is compared with the existing policies and plans for transport decarbonization in Costa Rica. The findings suggest that (a) the country should foster industry-academia collaborations and engagements to fortify knowledge sharing networks for low-mobility innovation, (b) subsidization of electricity cost for electric vehicles seems essential to incentivize market pull, and (c) Costa Rica should proceed towards the creation of domestic and local electric vehicles manufacturing capacity to provide an industrial environment for building long-standing technological learning and accumulation.

This article seeks to contribute to ongoing debates on gender equality in energy development projects. This article adopts a feminist critical standpoint to assess initiatives on gender and energy in international development. While recognizing the benefits of applying gender analysis to map out the divergences in access and opportunities in energy, this article stresses three recurring issues in energy development studies: a dangerous return of the ‘efficiency approach’ of women in energy and development; the erroneous interchangeability of gender as a ‘women only’ issue; and the diffusion of ‘feminization of energy poverty’ discourses. This article stresses how international organizations and practitioners in energy are echoing the already critiqued concept of ‘feminization of poverty’ and how this can unintentionally undermine the efforts to achieve gender equality.

International climate finance is key to managing overall climate risk with many developing countries’ climate plans and actions are conditional on getting the necessary financial support. Unsurprisingly, helping fund poorer countries to address climate change is one of the most contentious subjects in climate politics. This article examines the state of play and offers some suggestions to unblock the impasse.

The multilateral energy space is an essential forum for exchanging best practices, setting common targets, and developing financing frameworks. While recent years have seen an increased focus on socio-economic aspects of energy access and energy transition, the role of youth has not come to the fore until recently. This article reviews whether and how youth were involved in the multilateral energy space spanning 2019–2021 and provides suggestions regarding possible next steps that could be taken. There is a positive trend of an increasing number of youth-dedicated events held at the margins of intergovernmental forums on energy. Still, there remain several gaps for a more robust inclusion of youth.

Different UN and international agencies are busy trying to leverage big data to unlock its value for evidence-based decision-making in development and humanitarian action. But many vulnerable people are invisible to the data infrastructure, while just integrating their data without understanding the consequences can make them even more vulnerable. This article unpacks the challenges presented by data science for development and humanitarianismand also check that the section heading are correctly identified.