In October, some 400 international energy experts, government officials, and representatives of the private sector gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan to discuss how to turn national climate change commitments into reality, and how to speed up the process, given the urgent need for action. Jointly organized by the Copenhagen Centre, the Seventh International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development opened on October 18 for four days of plenary sessions, group workshops and site visits, all geared towards tackling the question of how to best implement the Sustainable Development Goals and other aspirational pledges such as the Paris Agreement.
At the Forum, the Copenhagen Centre’s Senior Advisor Tim Farrell chaired the annual session of UNECE’s Group of Experts on Energy Efficiency. Discussions about the Group of Experts’ future work generated interest in principles-based energy performance standards in buildings. C2E2 also co-organized a workshop entitled “Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform and Progress in Accelerating Industrial Energy Efficiency.”
The outcome document of the Baku Forum was a call to action urging member states to commit to concrete measures towards achieving energy-related Sustainable Development Goals and contributing to the Paris Climate Agreement. The actions proposed in the document are designed to fill the gaps and accelerate the transition to a sustainable energy system through an agreed common agenda. The declaration seeks to propose potential solutions and focuses on the urgently needed paradigm shift in policymaking and the way we produce and consume energy.
Draft ministerial declarations are to be submitted their member states for consideration at the Energy Ministerial Conference to be held concurrently with the Eighth International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development and the EXPO-2017 “Future Energy,” on 11 June 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. More information about this year’s forum can be found here.