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Delivered by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

15 November 2022

ESCAP ES

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to deliver welcoming remarks on Partnerships to Promote Sustainable Energy at this joint event with Energy Foundation China.

Partnerships are fundamental to the success of efforts to promote sustainable energy and to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement.

We are currently faced with the sobering reality of slow progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) – ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

At the same time, the just released “UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2022” highlights there are no credible pathways to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. Thus, our climate mitigation efforts are falling well short of what is needed to avoid the catastrophic consequences of a warming planet.

I am therefore delighted that today’s event will highlight some of the positive outcomes of partnerships that ESCAP is engaged in.

Today’s launch of the “SDG 7 Roadmap for Pakistan” is the culmination of collaborative efforts between the Government of Pakistan, ESCAP, Energy Foundation China, the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and Murdoch University.

These partners came together to support the analysis of Pakistan’s energy sector, and the result is a guiding framework to increase energy access, efficiency and renewables while also lowering the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

ESCAP’s collaborative model for developing SDG 7 Roadmaps has proven to be a success and has been applied to numerous countries in the Asia-Pacific region, resulting in nine national and six city- and provincial-level roadmaps.

Our world is getting hotter. For developing nations in warmer climates, cooling represents a growing source of energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions from refrigerants.

In recognition of this trend, the Secretary-General has called upon countries to develop and adopt National Cooling Action Plans in order to deliver efficient and climate-friendly cooling.

Under the global Cool Coalition umbrella, ESCAP and UNEP, with the funding support of Energy Foundation China, responded to this need and engaged coalition partners to create a framework methodology for developing National Cooling Action Plans.

We are pleased to say that we have collaborated with the Government of Cambodia to pilot this methodology and draft a National Cooling Action Plan. This is the first to be adopted in South-East Asia and hopefully the first of many. 

Now that SDG 7 and national cooling action plans have been established, we must look to form new partnerships to support their implementation and the realization of shared goals.

Today’s panel discussion, “Putting Plans into Action through Partnerships,” will focus on identifying the elements of successful collaborations and how development partners can improve their support to countries.

I would like to commend Energy Foundation China and the other ESCAP partners present here today at COP27 for their commitment to advancing the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, the Kigali Amendment and the Paris Agreement, and congratulate them for the successes we have already realized.

I hope this event will allow stakeholders to come together in new and renewed partnerships with the objective of achieving our common sustainable energy and climate goals.

Thank you very much.

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