Discussion Room 2: Energy Transition

Hi, trust you all doing well. Pleased to join the discussion at the appropriate time.

You're Welcome Alexander. Looking forward to fruitful discussions on energy transition from us all. 

Discussion Room 2 on Energy Transition is now open!

Good afternoon/evening/morning dear colleagues! On behalf of the moderators of the Discussion Room 2 dedicated to the Energy Transition Track of HLDE we are glad to officially welcome you here! We are looking forward to you sharing your perspectives and bouncing off ideas on the issues at hand in our track. For you to orient yourselves simpler in the guiding questions, think about them the following way - first we address the "why" questions (why energy transition is of special importance for us, youth), then we move on to the "how" ones (how do we actually achieve youth-friendly energy transitions) and then to the "who"/"what" ones (who are the best-placed stakeholders, what solutions are scalable and where they could come from).

I am Vlad, and as one of the members of the TWG #2 at HLDE and one of the moderators in this discussion room, I am looking forward to facilitate this discussion so that its outcomes will help you feel represented at the 'big table'! As for my work on energy and climate, you can find out more here and here.

Very warm welcome again... and let the wonderful ideas flow!

Hello everyone,

My name is Anahita. I am super happy to be here. So to give you a background on why I am interested in this area and why I am going to talk about the challenges: I am from Iran and I am currently living in Iran. As you may already know Iran is rich in resources such as oil and gas and therefore the price of energy is pretty low in the country, hence very inefficient use of energy and highly energy-intensive manufacturing and productions. This has affected out lives in different way: the air pollution is pretty evident in my city, Tehran. So I always wondered when and how is this going to be fixed? So I am going to talk about some of the challenges and suggest some ideas as of how this issue can be tackled. (also about role of Academia)

I believe there are general challenges with regards to transition to renewable energy such as political, social and economic institutions, high fixed cost for starting renewable energy plants, status-quo bias on using non-renewable energy, especially in countries that are oil/gas-rich, etc.

The political and socio-economic factors include: 1. Not enough awareness in the society about different types of renewable energy and the fact that common belief is this is a large-scale thing. Many people might not be aware that they can use solar panels in their own homes. 2. Non-renewable energy producers have a lot at stake. Therefore there is a conflict of interest here that needs to be resolved. Usually these firms have high powers in societies and therefore might create barriers for transition. 

Another challenge for transitioning into renewables is the high fixed cost. It requires great investment for a country or city to make the transition, to build the plants or even do the evaluation in the first place. Therefore financial reasons are inevitable.

And last but not least the status-quo bias. You may be familiar with this term but I will explain for those who are not. Status-quo bias refers to the unwillingness to change or to experience change. This term which is used quite often in Behavioral Economics, is believed to have emerged due to loss aversion which is another behavioral economics concept. When you've doing something is one way for years, it is highly likely that you are reluctant to change your method as there's always a chance for loss and failure, and that chance, even if small, in many of our minds have a higher weight. Therefore, people rarely change their way of living or their approach to taking care of the task. The case on energy transition is no different. When countries and governments and firms and frankly also people have been using non-renewables for decades, the bias creates a friction and the change does not happen easily. 

So these were some of the challenges I could think of. Now a couple of ideas:

Having studied Economics, I think price-based policies have proven to be effective in most cases and since the energy transition is a long-term process, the first step would be to create incentives for investment in renewable energy and impose taxes or higher energy prices for non-renewable energy. This way, not just governments and firms but also people will have more incentive to to use renewable energy. The first investments may need to be made by the government or huge firms, but along the way there will be ways to engage people as well, for instance through micro investments in renewable energy plants.

Another important solution is to raise awareness in schools and smaller communities so that people and groups know about the alternatives and can actually demand the transition from their governments and businesses. Raising awareness does not impose much of financial burden and can be volunteer/community driven.

With regards to the role of Academia, personally I've seen academic papers in journals such as Energy Economics pointing out and illustrating the effect of wrong policies with regards to energy prices, etc. but I think many governments might neglect the suggestions and recommendations of academia. Academia definitely play a great role in gathering evidence, bolding the necessity, pushing forward the science and tech aspects of it, but in the implementation stage all of that might go to waste or get ignored. So that's also a challenge.

Looking forward to hearing from everyone else.

Best,

Anahita

Hi everyone, welcome to discussion room 2 on energy transition. I am one of your Lead Moderators along side Vladislav Kaim and Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao . I'm very happy to see some of you have started sharing pertinent insights on this topic, ( Anahita Hosseini's contribution is a good example). Please keep the conversation going! We are listening and taking down notes!

At the end of the consultation, we will consolidate your inputs and present them to the Technical Working Group who are making recommendations on Energy Transition to our governments. So this is really our chance to address the key questions in the description and be heard by decision makers.

When posting your comment, please kindly indicate which question you are tackling. It will be useful in consolidating your inputs.  

Thank you very much and I am looking forward to hear more from everyone! 

PayGo models have been around for over a decade as a mean of fast tracking energy access for offgrid low income communities. My thoughts is that we need to rethink and/or restructure this model for it to make social and economic sense not just for the companies but for the end-user

Good to be here.

Am IYUMAME ALVAN NWUCHE from NIGERIA .

In other to achieve youth friendly energy transition, it's through the follow up of youth research work done in school. i am saying so because most of innovation come from youth still at school. Organisations and government can better oriented training is school for the facilitation in the achievement of youth friendly energy transition.

Also suitable stakeholders:  NGO's, enterprises and lobbying are best -placed for the follow up or engagement in such projects

Couldn’t agree with Bigambia more. Implementation of academic research focused on energy access and sustainable development need is crucial to youth involvement in the energy transition. However, results from simulation softwares is only a subset of reality. To ensure implementation of research findings and recommendations, youth organizations (IRENA Youth Forum for example) must devise mechanisms to ensure acquisition of funding from stakeholders: Governments, international energy institutions, the general public, etc. For instance, we should focus on the bankability of energy projects by remodeling the results from research to considerably match reality. Youths will have to actively engage with government agencies to discuss and enact policies that will help de-risk financial investments in the green energy sector.

How can private companies participate in energy transition such that it does not affect our books negatively? 

Thank you everyone for your contributions thus far. We can see that some challenges to the energy transition include;

- unawareness of renewable energy options in some communities,

- weak political and socio-economic institutions, 

- status quo bias from most countries,

- high initial investment cost for renewables,

- conflict of interest from oil-rich countries,

Some solutions to the challenges identified include;

- creating price-based policies such as creating incentives for renewable energy investments,

- restructuring existing off-grid distribution models to have a more inclusive socio-economic impact for it's stakeholders. 

Most participants identify the crucial role of academic research in creating opportunities for youth engagement in the energy transition and the importance of follow-up of academic research. Youth engagement with government agencies to enact policies that help de-risk renewable energy investments have been identified as favorable to the energy transition.

We'll love to get your thoughts as well on the role of local governments in the green transition, sharing best-practices of these from your own experiences.

Equally, keep sharing more thoughts on opportunities for youths in the the energy transition.

Hello Everyone,

My name is Ifecukwude Chinye-Ikejiunor, I am currently taking a Master's Program in Energy and Environmental Management in Developing Countries at the Universitat Universitat Flensburg. I am also really happy to be here.

The role of the local governments in this value chain can never be over-emphasized as they are needed also to implement a sustainable green transition. 

I would give an analogy, a story to buttress my point;

An International body decided to build infrastructure in a certain village for the people since they observed that the women had to travel long distances to fetch water. This was a welcomed development and for the first few months after the implementation of the project, it was noticed that the women continued to go the long distance to get water. When officials came back to check the bore-hole water supply system and see if it still functioned properly but to their greatest surprise everything was in order. At this point, they had to call the women and ask why they hardly used the newly developed Infrastructure and the response they got was that "the distance from our houses to the stream is quite a distance and we are really busy women but the time we take to the stream is the only time we get to catch up with our friends".

The need for inclusion is very important. The local government knows where the shoe is pinching. They should be carried along in every step of this transition. From organizing trainings to allocating youths that could help at this grassroots level, their opinion is very valid.

Also, their participation in the transition usually reduces the chances of sabotage in the implemented projects  and transition steps over the course of time.

Vielen Dank!

Thank you Chinye-Ikejiunor for this very insightful example! Indeed, even the best strategy engineered by the most talented persons is nothing without inclusion, local participation and capacity building. This is true for water systems as well as for any local energy-related projects (solar, biomass, etc.). Like Chinye-Ikejiunor, please do not hesitate to share any other stories on local inclusion problems or success - this will be key in making our contributions to this consultation stronger. Many thanks! 

Opportunities clean energy can bring to people are : reduction of global warming, generate income and employment, contribute toa good healthness of people, bring in of new technology etc

Hi, everyone! I'm Vince from the Philippines. Allow me to share my sentiments and views about the energy transition agenda that we should all workout to achieve the SDGs.

To reduce our global greenhouse gas emissions significantly, the transition into becoming reliant to renewable and sustainable energy resources for our increasing energy demand is of utmost importance and urgency. 

Countries across the globe have been steadily increasing their fossil fuel investments to address the increasing energy demands of their growing populations and economies. This increase (and support) is deeply unwarranted and should not be the instance given the commitments of the countries to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement to maintain warming below the 1.5 deg C threshold and in contrary to the findings of the 2018 IPCC report regarding the need to reduce global emissions by 45% come 2030. Thus, achieving the SDG 7 targets, especially those focused on energy transition, is necessary to achieve these commitments.

However, such transition is no easy task. As they say, it is difficult to keep away from things that we got used to no matter how dangerous it is (e.g. smoking, drinking alcohol, etc.). But, energy transition is not as easy as a lifestyle change, nor does it only affect the lives of a few individuals. To transition into sustainable energy use is to change the system that endangers not only the environment that we live in but also the present and future generations of humanity.

For the purpose of my commentary/recommendations, I would limit my discussion to contextualizing energy transition with respect to providing people access to cleaner, more sustainable energy to power their homes (power generation sector).

There are quite a few hurdles that makes clean and sustainable energy difficult to start and achieve. Some of these gaps/barriers are:

a) Government policies favoring or inexplicitly promoting continuous reliance to fossil fuels (especially to coal) as primary energy source;

b) Lack of infrastructures to facilitate the sustainable energy development for the generation of cleaner electricity most likely from renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, and hydropower;

c) Lack of both government and foreign investments and development projects to increase the renewable energy generating capacity of a country; and

d) Less informed people on both short-term and long-term benefits of cleaner and more sustainable energy such as renewables to their communities and their environment.

It is necessary to recognize these issues/gaps in discussing how to speed up the momentum of energy transition globally and locally. It must be acknowledged that one of the main reasons as to why there is a slow pace or progress in achieving energy transition targets under SDG 7 is the lack of appreciation and foresight towards this crucial sustainable agenda for everyone by our respective governments.This must not continue. This must change. Therefore, I humbly recommend quite a few measures on how we can advance the energy transition initiatives and address the gaps it faces. Here are those measures:

a) Impose indefinite and iron-clad moratorium for existing and greenfield fossil fuel projects and future investments starting with coal investments to facilitate in the entry of more renewable energy projects in every country.

b) Increase the renewable energy generating capacities of countries by prioritizing the deployment of renewable energy technologies to far-flung communities, an intersection of energy transition and energy access; 

c) Institutionalize incentivizing renewable energy development and energy efficiency and conservation measures to encourage the investments and utilization of cleaner, more sustainable energy technologies (and even demand-side practice); and  

d) Direct cash flows towards renewable and sustainable energy research to lower the levelized cost of electricity of technologies, making it more affordable for the end-users (a responsibility of the government).

Every second counts as an opportunity to remove fossil fuels in our society, in our systems, especially in the context of providing electricity access. The solution is obvious, is already existing, and is possible. Let us all embrace renewable energy as we transition into a more sustainable future. May our governments realize that today's policies will not only affect the present but also the future generations. The time to end fossil fuels is NOW and the time to embrace renewable, more sustainable energy starts TODAY. 

For every country to achieve clean energy and pollution free environment, most especially countries who are linked to illegal oil and gas refining. The government and the IOCs must take responsibility by engaging the host communities who have this petroleum deposits in their lands . However, not engaging this host communities will be more disastrous,the government and the IOCs are greedy ,for example the NIGER DELTA area of NIGERIA are facing lots of challenges due to the neglect of the government and the international oil companies (IOCs).No access to clean energy, but polluted environment and the water ways are the order of the day. 

Hi everyone,

I would like to share some thoughts on the links between the energy transition and spatial planning. 

Cities consume about two thirds of the world’s energy and contribute to more than 60-70 % of greenhouse gas emissions. This makes the spatial and urban form of cities a key factor in achieving more efficient energy production and consumption. Thus, city planning of the urban dimension is a potentially powerful lever for the energy transition, especially given rapid urbanisation. The urban dimension—that is the pattern of spatial development and urban form and the planning that shapes it—is inseparable from the energy system. Cities and energy systems have evolved on mutually dependent paths, not least in the dominance of car traffic. Thus, the form of urban development will strongly influence the medium and long-term future of the energy transition and visa-versa. 

Energy strategies concentrate on energy production and renewables, and to some extent transport, and waste. They are much less well connected to the energy performance of cities that arises from their spatial layout and urban form, and the planning system that seeks to shape them. This weakens the city’s response to climate change. Spatial planning is a long-term endeavour compared to the short-term gains that can be made from switching energy production and consumption patterns, but it is no less important. The cities’ development plans will be paying attention to the relation between urban development and climate change, but we would expect the corporate energy strategy to address the urban dimension too. 

How does the organisation of space and urban form in cities contribute to the efficiency of energy systems and how can it assist with the energy transition? What are the measures in the planning and design of the urban dimension that are critical in the energy transition? 

My master thesis focused on this topic so I am very curious about other people's opinion on this topic. 

Best,

Karishma

One of the requisite aspects for a large scale transition requires confidence and trust to novel element and in this case, clean energy. People, who are reluctant to switch to clean energy, should be persuaded and gain their confidence. Organisations at grassroot level need to interact with reluctant people and persuade them that how beneficial the energy transition could be for them and how harmful non renewable sources of energy usage are. When people are prepared and confident to transit, it would reflect in their demand and then only we could institute energy transition on the required massive scale.

Hi everyone, Maisarah here from Malaysia. I'll chip in a few personal words since this relates directly to my own work within IRENA. If we try to focus on the simplest aspects of energy transition, I believe most countries are already aware of the benefits of renewable energy vs FFs and eager to invest in these technologies.

The challenge remains in the implementation or policy framework that allows ordinary citizens to also participate in this. Speaking specifically on power/electricity - this would allow a community/municipality based ownership instead of large national projects might allow for faster deployment in some countries - as there is interest to 1) have reliable energy access 2) affordable electricity 3) participate directly in the energy transition.

The rest of the world with more capital (i.e developed countries) can focus on the more innovative parts of energy transition, but basic energy needs must be met first. 

Am not too much far from dear there from Iraq 

  Am from the United republic of Tanzania where we have plenty of resources but no awareness of using them . We are still paying a high price to obtain energy .  

I wish to be the change I want to see but don't know how to reach to the officials ?

@everyone, thank you for your valuable contributions this far. We'll further like to hear from you; What do you consider to be the #1 action your government should take to accelerate the green transition?

The primary step that I believe government should take is accelerate implementation of various solutions with regards to the transition of green energy.

Thanks to the policies adopted in the field of renewable energy, the Arab Republic of Egypt has become a leading country in the Middle East and North Africa region, at the level of policies and procedures for the transition towards a green economy through a clear strategy to promote the use of renewable energy and implement environmentally friendly projects, so that the Egyptian model becomes an inspiration for emerging countries and countries of transformation Economists willing to shift towards a green economy, according to the Solar Energy Outlook 2020 report.

As a young person, I would want to see more partnership between the private sector and the public sector. This partnership can facilitate renewable energy project funding, as well as share technology and know-how among one another. Additionally, the partnership could potentially create more jobs for the youth that are willing to work and take on the challenge of combating climate change.

Furthermore, I would like to stress the importance of creating "giga-grids" running primarily on renewable energy. I wrote an article which I named One Grid One Africa which focuses on that! Please find below the link on academia.edu:

https://www.academia.edu/43298243/One_Grid_One_Africa

Many thanks to all of the Moderators for this opportunity to express our (the youths') thoughts on the subject matter.

AbdelRahman Abou Zeid

Acknowledging the suggestions made by respective members pertaining to public-private partnership, I believe a regulatory authority is needed to scrutinize the efficiency of such partnerships. If not vertical, even horizontal framework of checks and balances could be used because such partnerships often delve into less productivity due various issues. I believe those issues have to be addressed by third party.

Response to question 1: Challenges

• Cost of transition from fossil-fuelled based to renewable energy

The significant reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions requires the transition from fossil-fuel based energy production systems to renewable and sustainable energy systems that highly take into the costs associated with transitioning.

• Sharing the case in South Africa.

Coal and biomass are cheap and affordable, yet lead to persistent negative climate change effects. Renewables i.e. solar panels/ photovoltaic cells and storage batteries are extremely expensive and unaffordable yet are anticipated to lead to better future climatic conditions.    

In South Africa, we are still experiencing energy poverty divide, with a large population and poor communities still not connected to the energy grid, nor have access to renewable energy. This rural-urban divisions continue to worsen under climate change.   

For the poor living in remote rural communities, solar energy provides a great opportunity for people to have access to lighting and electricity. But the costs of renewable technologies needs to be heavily incentivised with urgency.

In addition, the setting up of local industries that will produce the renewable technology components presents a great opportunity for the youth to be actively engaged in the energy transition. Installation and maintenance alone will not be enough.

For example, it became evident under the Clean Development Mechanism and Fast Start Financing initiatives implemented in 2012/2013 that the rolling out of the solar heaters in low-cost housing in urban communities yielded little opportunities for young people to partake in the green transition. A robust integration of young people in the energy transition needed.    

The socioeconomic costs of the energy transition can be further associated with the severe job losses that will be incurred. The costs associated with training an experienced coal miner to work in the manufacturing plant of photovoltaic and renewable energy components will be costly for the economy. According to the business sector, the integration of young artisans in the manufacturing industry will make the wage bill affordable.     

The academia ,the industry and technology must contribute reasonably in the transition of energy. More research works must be done to ascertain the transition of energy. 

   More grants should be given to those in the academia and in the industry for more research to be carried out I'm order to achieve a better ways of transformation and so as to avoid gas emissions and other greenhouse effects. There should Technologies that will help out in achieving zero gas emissions and having a total green environment.

Ở Việt Nam cơ cấu kĩ thuật dành cho việc khai thác năng lượng sạch đang còn hạn chế. có nhiều công trình nghiên cứu cần được thực hiện để chuyển đổi năng lượng. Rõ ràng việc sử dụng điện than hiện nay gây ô nhiễm môi trường rất lớn trong khi các nguồn năng lượng như gió mặt trời chưa được khai thác một cách tối đa. Hạn chế đến  thấp nhất việc xây dựng thêm các nhà máy điện than là điều thực sự cần thiết. Cần có các công nghệ tiên tiến để giúp việc xử khí thải từ các nhà máy để bảo vệ môi trường.

Hellow friends ..my name is Grace James a Tanzanian girl of 22 years a old, a third year student taking my bachelor degree of accounting in the university of Dodoma here in Tanzania .

    I know this is inappropriate to say here but I really ask you to help me in this .Am expecting to graduate in july 2021 and I tried to apply for different scholarship I got one but now their telling me that they can't give me full funded scholarship. Am asking you if anyone has heard that scholarship thing anywhere or you can help me get different opportunity like essay writing competition am good in writing essay and I have participated I many easy writing competition here in our country Tanzania and won almost all competition and managed to finance my bachelor degree that I'm completing in July this year. I was given a full funded loan from the higher education loans board from Tanzania. 

Am kindly asking you to help me with either the two the scholarship  for masters or  any competition to write essays that take contestants from all over the world including Tanzania .I hope to get so much help from you ? because I have a sister and brothers to help in future . If you get any of the two plz kindly check me through gracejames685@gmail.com

 +255 719918002 my WhatsApp number

Hello everyone, I’m Hu Shiyu, a junior student from China. 

Based on my own experiences, I think the most significant challenges for the energy transition is dissemination of all kinds of information about this area. Here are some reasons to exemplify this idea.

As a junior student majoring in Portuguese, I have been following the news of SDG goals and related topics closely. But I found that it seems a little difficult for me when I decided to put down something on comments, because in my bank of information about this area, only exist shallow understanding about energy transition, there are little critical thinking of this topic, not mention to those people who have little interest about this area. Therefore, if people can’t understand well about energy transition, many ideas and policies will not be realized in the efficient way.

I hope we could have more time to respond those questions.

This consultation will close shortly. Your moderators will post their summaries in the next few days.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participants for your excellent and thoughtful inputs and to encourage you to remain engaged in this group. We will leave the Networking Lounge and the News Room open so please keep posting and stay tuned for "the next steps" and new opportunities from UNDP.

We look forward to continue working with you!

Caroline Baxter Tresise
Facilitator, Community of Practice on Energy, UNDP

1. The challenges of the energy transition can have two elements. One is the technical element of actually getting significant capacity online that will be reliable and of quantity and quality. The other is the social element. This is the most difficult one to overcome. In South Africa politicians see coal as a way to lift the economy as there is job creation throughout the coal supply chain which is continuous. In RE plants there is less human capital needed.

The need for a pilot project, to show how people can be upskilled/ reskilled for the green economy cannot be overstated. South Africa is at more than 50% youth unemployment and the thought making that worse is to overwhelming so a strong and proven framework/roadmap is needed to demonstrate how clean energy is in in fact a BETTER future.

2,3.  I think we have many skilled and qualified young people within the country. Therefore, there a need for job creation. There needs to be development of in-country energy experts as most of the RE developments are given to Multinationals. The creation of more opportunities for youth lies in not only investing in young people’s ideas but also embedding their ideas in policy. Technologies developed by young people in the country need to be pushed to the forefront of what is happening the country. Thus, allowing innovation.

Youth unemployment being more than 50% in South African is having a devastating impact. I myself as a young person do not see, exactly, how this will be done with longevity as well. How does one create employment for 50% of the country ??

4.In South Africa it is evident that the Cities drive change and National government develop policy to help manage these changes.

The City of Cape Town, for which I work, is developing its Climate change policy like all the other major Cities in the Country. Cape Town will be the first to develop its own RE plants to supply the City. This is major news as the electricity supply industry in SA is monopolised by the parastatal Eskom.

The Solar Water Heater initiative of installing SWHs in low income houses was first started by Cities then taken on be National government as way of demand management.

I believe through energy efficiency and RE capacity increases local governments can drive the transition. National government needs to set polies that assist local governments in doing so this also means guarding against too much red tape but also against corruption.

I also believe all local government operations should strive to be net zero carbon as soon possible. SSEGs and the proper tariffs and policies will allow the transition to be more effective. In SA developing the appropriate mechanism to register and meter SSEGs is an ongoing project. Providing support to local government in the space of Electric vehicles and its infrastructure will allow rapid electrification of the transport sector.

5. Academia is vital to the transition. Governments will need to leverage academia as its own research partner. There is no capacity within governments to do deep dives in any research topic. Technology innovation is important in the sense of developing technology that is not necessarily more advanced but will be more accessible to the majority of the country. Academia can perform the pilot studies of any possible government policy intervention’s thus grounding all policy in science.

The energy transition needs to see more study’s on different energy efficient technologies that consumers that can buy “tomorrow” and have immediate demand impacts on the grid. Academia should also take on an advocacy role by making people aware of the transition and more importantly peoples energy culture. A practical study performed by academia showing how the energy transition will allow for more employment will have permanent repercussion on policy and decision-maker’s actions.

Xin chào mọi người, tôi là Thùy, hiện đang sinh sống tại Việt Nam. Tôi cảm thấy rất tuyệt vời khi thấy các cuộc thảo luận của các bạn. Nhưng tôi có một băn khoăn rằng các nước đang phát triển có thể tiếp cận được các công nghệ tiên tiến trong việc tạo ra năng lượng sạch không, và bằng cách nào? Dường như các nước đang phát triển đang bị thụt lùi phía sau trong cuộc đua về năng lượng sạch.

Dear colleagues and participants in the Breakout Room, it has been a great pleasure to have you here and learn from your perspectives in terms of what you see for the main directions, challenges and benefits of energy transitions. Having a great, solidified youth perspective on it would allow us to represent your voices better in the HLDE, as well as those who prepare the Final Reports to have an integrated youth viewpoint. It wouldn't be possible without your implication, so thank you!

In order not to repeat what has already been so aptly summarized by Jaff, I will be more concise and try to capture more conceptual conclusions that we can carry out of the discussions had in this room. First and foremost, while we all recognize the tremendous benefits that energy transitions bring, not many countries and communities can afford the actual downpayment on it. Initial high costs preclude many communities from fulfilling the transition, which also leaves many youth behind in many other aspects.

Accessing previously untapped markets to transition to clean energy requires close and sincere cooperation between established businesses, young entrepreneurs, academia and governments. It is a systematic effort that requires all hands on deck, and for way too often our perspectives were deemed professional or worthy enough. Gladly your inputs are proving all the sceptics wrong!

Last but not the least, the inequality of access to resources, financial, scientific and other, in the process of energy transition has to be addressed for it to reach those populations that we are aiming to reach. The consequences of not being flexible and inclusive in designing clean energy systems, advancing new forms of payment for access, new designs of infrastructure maintenance are too dire - many cities will have their counts of dead from 'dirtier' use of energy increased, while the rural communities will remain shut out of the grid altogether. This could have particularly detrimental effects in multiple countries of the Global South.

We should continue fighting and advocating for the deployment of clean energy in our countries and communities to be front and center of energy policy in every country in order to stay on the 1.5C warming course, as well as getting access to new opportunities provided by a greener, more digital economy. Let's continue doing this on all platforms we have access to, and it has been great to see you seizing the opportunity to do so on SparkBlue courtesy of the UNDP as well!