GLOBAL GOALS REPORT

Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

Helena Chung
GESS I&S Class 8B

GESS SUSTAINABILITY
ACTION WEEK 2017
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BACKGROUND ON ISSUES

a. Issues

b. Statistics

3. GLOBAL GOAL 7

a. What is the goal trying to achieve?

b. What sub-targets make up the Global Goal?

c. Related Millennium Development Goal

4. TAKING ACTION

a. Action I can take

b. Sustainability Action Week

c. Measuring success

d. Reflecting on my experiences

5. CONCLUSION

6. REFERENCES
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GLOBAL GOALS REPORT
1. INTRODUCTION
In the September of the year 2000, the United Nations Millennium Declaration was signed, world leaders committing
themselves to fighting against poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against
women. The MDGs created by this declaration were to be completed by 2015. Some of the targets reached by the goals
were achieved, and in all areas, progress was made towards making the world a better place. For example, in regard to
MDG 1 (eradicate extreme poverty and hunger), the number of people living in extreme poverty (less than $1.25 a day)
was reduced from to only 836 million in 2015, as opposed to 1.9 billion in 1990. This was a impressively drastic change.
However, the other target of MDG 1, which was to halve the number of people in extreme hunger, was missed, although
only by a small margin.

In 2015, 193 world leaders signed the United Nations Resolution, pledging their intent to complete the Sustainable
Development Goals a new, more complex, ambitious and broad range of issues branching from the MDGs which
focused on sustainable development, or ensuring that the world would be in a good state for future generations as
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, We dont have a plan B because there is no planet B. These 17
Global Goals with 169 targets are to be completed by 2030, and this year, in GESS, we focused on each doing our part
and taking action on one of the 17 SDGs.

The Global Goals address many urgent global problems, not only extreme poverty, but also balancing economic, social,
and environmental sustainable development, in order to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development an
action plan to transform the world over the next fifteen years in a comprehensive global vision.

My focus for this unit was Global Goal 7; Clean and Affordable Energy. The Goals
basic aim is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy
for all, as stated on the official Global Goals website. It addresses the issues of
energy poverty, non-renewable energy, and carbon emissions through energy
production that plague the world today, and has the general target of cancelling the
problem of unclean energy that contributes to carbon emissions and air pollution.

2. Background on Issues

Each of the SDGs is important as it works to solve an important problem in the world today, and there are several
reasons why achieving the targets of Global Goal 7 is important.

Firstly, 1 in 5 people currently dont have access to electricity, meaning that their lives are drastically different from ours
in that electricity, phone service, and internet connection are not readily available. This will directly impact the difficulty
of their everyday lives, as well as cutting them off from the rest of the world and even their communities. In the case of
serious injury or sickness, it is important to be able to contact help to prevent it from becoming worse, and governments
of less economically-developed countries not being in contact with other governments will impact their ability to make
and be involved in international decisions, effectively allowing them less of a voice in such situations.
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Secondly, unclean energy production is the main contributor to climate change, since approximately 60% of total
greenhouse gas emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels to produce electricity. This means that if the problem of
unclean energy production is solved, the amount of carbon emissions that we produce as a planet will be reduced, and
we will be that much closer to reaching the goal of a sustainable, environmentally-friendly world.

Third, over 3 billion people worldwide burn wood and charcoal for heat and to cook instead of having electrical cookers or
heating systems. This means that they are either unable to afford the services or that they arent available in the areas in
which they live. This means that we, as the human race, are leaving behind over 3 billion of our members focusing our
advancing our world as they fall farther and farther behind.

In general, the Sustainable Development Goals focus on raising the quality of life for all people. Currently, if quality of life
is measured on an overall social progress index which compares basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing, and
opportunity, the international average is 61 points, with the goal being 75. The wellness of a country is usually measured
based on economic growth, as opposed to social progress, but as it turns out, richer countries tend to have less social
progress per capita. The world average GDP per capita may increase to USD$23,000, but in this case, it is calculated that
social progress will only rise by 1.4%. This shows that, although the economy may be rising, this does not necessary
mean that the quality of life in accordance. It is calculated that having an international social progress index score of 75
will achieve fulfillment of human needs, good foundations of wellbeing, and adequate opportunities for success to the
population of the world.

Moon spoke of the goals as a road map for people and the planet that will ... ensure sustainable social and economic
progress worldwide.

These are the reasons that achieving all of the Global Goals (not limited to GG7) are important; we must, as the human
race, create a sustainable and

Since the signing of the United Nations Resolution, substantial progress has been made regarding the Sustainable
Development Goals raising the quality of life for people around the world. Many different countries have, true to their
pledges, taken action towards achieving the Global Goals.

For example, in July, 2016, the Republic of Korea declared its intent to begin a Safe Life for All plan, which assists in
achieving GG3 (good health and well-being). It aims towards a safer world, secure from dangerous diseases. Its main
targets are to have healthcare which actively works to prevent contagious diseases from spreading in the first place,
detect them early on, and respond to urgent health problems within a very short time frame.

Another example is Norways efforts for GG4 (quality education). Education, particularly for girls and in emergencies, is
one of Norways prime concerns, and the country has pledged USD$48 million in donations for education in multiple less
economically developed countries from 2016-2018.

Thirdly, a project supported by UNICEF and its NGO partner Living Water transported clean, safe drinking water to a
primary school in Sierra Leone for the first time in ten years. Due to projects like this and other development, general
access to clean water has risen to 62.6% from 36.7% in 1990.

Lastly, in 2016, Estonia became the first EU country to meet its renewable energy goals for 2020, and is already making
plans to invest in more renewable energy sources, particularly wind energy. In Estonia, a large fraction of heating is
produced by renewable energy sources, and the country is now moving forward with plans regarding a wind park in the
Baltic Sea.
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The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels...If we succeed, we create booming new industries,
wealth, clean secure energy and maybe we prevent the greatest disaster so far in human history, saving millions of
lives while improving billions more. If we fail, basically it's business as usual while things slowly get worse all
around us.

- Al Gore

3. Global Goal 7

Global Goal 7 is, as stated earlier focused on achieving clean and affordable energy for all with the general target being
that, by 2030, everyone should have access to clean, modern, efficient, and sustainable energy. Sustainable energy
sources should be more efficient and fossil fuel usage should be reduced.

The targets are as follows: universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services should be ensured to all,
substantial improvement in the field of renewable energy used globally should be made, the global rate of energy
efficiency should be doubled, international cooperation to allow more easy access to clean energy (both research and
technology), energy efficiency, and more advanced and clean fossil fuel technology should be increased, and
infrastructure to supply and/or upgrade technology supplying energy services for those who live in least developed
countries should be broadened.

The Millennium Development Goal related to this Sustainable Development Goal is MDG 7, ensure environmental
sustainability. This mostly encompasses SDGs 7, 9, 11, and 12 all of which branched out from MDG 7 as parts of the
larger set of Global Goals, with bigger, more ambitious ideas. MDG 7 covers the basic ideas of those 4 SDGs with 4 main
targets: to affiliate sustainable development policies into country programs to lessen the waste and reduction of
environmental resources, reduce the loss of biodiversity, cut the number of people without access to basic sanitation
(including potable water) in half, and improve the lives of a minimum of 100 million people living in slums.

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There are many ways to help fix the problems addressed by Global Goal 7. As highly-privileged residents of first-world
countries with comfortable living situations and everyday lives, we often take for granted the amount of energy we use
and waste. Some solutions would be to, for example, perform simple energy-saving actions such as turning the lights and
aircon off when you leave a room, using natural light instead of artificial light when it is available, and generally not using
more energy than we require. This way, we will not be wasting resources or contributing as much to carbon emissions
and climate change.

4. Taking Action

As mentioned earlier, as part of this assignment we were instructed to come up with an action regarding doing our part
in achieving a chosen Global Goal. As Global Goal 7 encompasses a lot of large-scale problems regarding problems with
carbon emissions on an international level, we were forced to search closer to home to find out what we could do. What
we eventually came up with was that we should perform an energy survey at our school itself, to raise awareness to both
teachers and students about energy wastage and its consequences.
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The way that we performed the energy survey was to visit 10 classrooms in lesson 4 every day for a school week,
excluding every time that they had been use, as well as visiting them after school. We calculated the energy wasted by
leaving the lights, projector, fans, and air conditioners on when the classroom was empty, minus the lessons where the
classroom would have been in use, and found that the energy wasted by the 10 classrooms in the 5 days came to
126.4kWh. This is equivalent to charging an iPad Pro 10,533 times, leaving the oven on for 126 hours, or leaving a
television set on for 365 hours. As said before, this is only 10 of all of the classrooms at our school, meaning our school
as a whole wastes far more than this in a week.

Another part of our action was to put up signs in many of the classrooms at GESS reminding
teachers to keep the temperature of their air conditioners at 25 C in order to save energy.
This is because in our energy survey, we found that the electrical appliance in each room that
wasted the most energy on average was the air conditioner. A few classrooms air
conditioners were on every time we surveyed them, and the signs therefore were to serve as a
reminder to not waste energy by not setting the appliance at a lower temperature than
necessary. We found that 25 C was the ideal temperature to both provide a comfortable
environment and save energy.

Following this, we also created posters to put up around school, not only to show our support
for the Global Goals as well as inform others of our GESS Sustainability Action Week but also
to inform those at the school, including but not limited to the teachers who do not put energy-
saving ideas into action in their classrooms, how much energy we are wasting as a school and
what we can do to stop this.

Over the duration of Sustainability Action Week, we presented our research and actions to two
different audiences the students and teachers of the fifth grade on the GESS primary campus, and the students,
teachers, and staff on the GESS main campus, on a Wednesday and Friday respectively.

I found that it was more enjoyable to present to the fifth-grade students, as they seemed to be very interested in learning
about what we had done and how they could connect what they were learning from our presentations to the Millennium
Development Goals, which they had learned about in a Unit for their UOI (Unit of Inquiry) prior to our visit. Fortunately,
we were well-prepared and offered the students interactive activities and encouraged them to ask questions and
ensuring that they understood the information we were relaying to them. The materials that we prepared included
multiple of the posters which we had hung up around the main campus as well as a presentation summarizing the Global
Goals, explaining their importance, and then giving some statistics before briefly explaining what our action had been
about. We also handed out stickers, asking them to show their support, and these were popular with the younger
children.
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On the main campus, I felt that there was a lot more pressure because we were communicating with an audience, most
of whom were adults (mainly teachers) or students who had done this project before, and I felt that they were definitely
less easily impressed than the fifth-graders. However, I believe that we managed to give good presentations to all the
visitors to our stand, informing them of our action and encouraging them to help.

My favorite part of this Sustainability Action Week was probably presenting on the primary campus, as the students were
all very engaged and easy to interact with. They seemed to enjoy the presentation and activities that we had prepared,
which was encouraging. Although it was tiring to present multiple times in a row, it was an enjoyable experience that I
would not mind repeating.

Throughout this project, I believe that I have become more positive towards the possible outcomes of the Sustainable
Development Goals. Having seen the difference that my classmates and I made through our combined actions, I have
come to realize that if more people put in the effort and work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, they
begin to seem far less remote and impossible. While they, at first, seem too ambitious to be accomplished, realizing that
even a student can have an impact on something like energy production has changed my beliefs and caused me to be
more determined to do my own part.

In terms of the success of this project, I believe that we were more successful in our presentation than in our action. Our
action was mostly comprised of spreading awareness and thereby encouraging others to work towards achieving the goal
rather than actually accomplishing the goal ourselves, and although

Those of us in the world, especially those who are as privileged as us, should remember that there are people in the
world whose lives do not have nearly as much luxury, and strive to make the world a better place for those less fortunate.
We can improve the quality of life by doing our part as an individual, even if it feels insignificant compared to the
problems that exist on an international scale.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, I feel that this assessment as a whole has been a learning experience that has opened us up, both as
students and people, to the possibilities available to us in terms of what kind of action we can take towards a better
world. Although it can be difficult to recognize your own actions as affecting the greater world, the actions taken this
week have shown me that a small amount of effort can go a long way, and there are many possibilities regarding what
one can do to help.

Achieving Global Goal 7 will most definitely have a positive impact on the world. Making large, positive changes to the
way that energy is produced as well as the amount and ease of energy access, particularly in less developed countries,
will change the world for the better by significantly improving the ease and quality of life, as well as raising the
sustainability of the world today.

The importance of achieving the Global Goals in order to improve the quality of life for the less fortunate and bring them
to the same quality of life as those as privileged as us in the world today, as they deserve. The world as it is today cannot
continue in this manner; the speed at which we are using non-renewable resources and producing greenhouse gases is
far too high for the environment to keep up with, and it is necessary to create a safe, happy, and sustainable life, not only
for ourselves but for those to come.
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6. References

"Energy - United Nations Sustainable Development." United Nations. United Nations. Web. 09 June 2017.

"The Global Goals." The Global Goals. Web. 09 June 2017.

"Goal 7: Affordable & Clean Energy." The Global Goals. Web. 09 June 2017.

Goal 7 Targets." UNDP. Web. 30 May 2017. <http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-

goals/goal-7-affordable-and-clean-energy/targets/>.

"Millennium Development Goals." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 May 2017. Web. 30 May 2017.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals>.

"SDG Indicators." United Nations. United Nations. Web. 09 June 2017. <https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2016/>.
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"Sustainable Development Goals." UNDP. Web. 30 May 2017. <http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-

development-goals/>.

"Sustainable Development Goals." United Nations. United Nations. Web. 30 May 2017.

<http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html>.