Highlights and images for 24 September 2025

With five years until 2030, only 35% of SDG targets are on track or making moderate progress, while nearly half are progressing too slowly and close to a fifth are even regressing. Many working on the various SDGs emphasize the need to focus on their interconnectedness, rather than approaching them in siloes, and SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) in particular cannot be addressed in isolation.

Meeting on the sidelines of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, the ENERGYNOW SDG7 Action Forum addressed the nexus of health, food security, climate change, and energy, among others. In opening the Forum on Wednesday morning, Minoru Takada, UN-Energy, UN DESA, noted upcoming milestones toward the final pre-2030 review of progress on SDG 7 at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2026 and invited ideas towards a post-2030 framework, for further elaboration at the 2027 SDG Summit.

In the afternoon plenary session, panelists and participants considered future energy discussions beyond 2030, hearing that rapid political, social, and economic changes and continuing global population growth are driving changes in energy use, with one calling for building political momentum to phase out fossil fuels.

Four parallel sessions were held during the day. During a session on United for Clean Cooking – A Joint UN Effort: Transforming Energy Systems to Protect Health and Advance Sustainable Development, speakers highlighted that 2.1 billion people still lack clean cooking, and called for increasing political will to address the issue and integrating clean cooking into broader energy planning.

Another session addressed changing AI from an energy burden to an engine of equitable transition, with panelists advising on how to ensure that AI systems are efficient, clean, and inclusive, such as through building equity into AI from day one.

One parallel session heard from champions of change who are accelerating the renewable energy transition toward renewables-based economies. They spoke on lessons in building trust, understanding the challenges, opportunities, and resources available, and making strategic connections with networks of stakeholders, international organizations, industry leaders, financial institutions, experts, and civil society.

Finally, the SDG7 Africa Youth Energy Forum convened, where speakers stressed the need for youth to be co-creators, not just beneficiaries. The Youth Sustainable Energy Hub (YSEH) was introduced and highlighted, with presenters discussing projects on: peer-to-peer solar trading; renewable electric vehicle (EV) charging; a solar-powered milking machine, solar cold storage for medicine, and ethanol fuel and clean cookstoves.