1.
Title
Monitoring the implementation of energy-related SDGs: Regional Observatories
as a tool to strengthen the policy-making technical capacities of Governments in
the ECLAC, ECE, ESCWA, ECA and ESCAP Regions
2.
Implementing Entity and UN partners
ECLAC (Lead)
UN Secretariat Partners: ECE, ESCWA, ECA, ESCAP,
Other Relevant Partners: The World Bank/GTF, IEA, IRENA
3.
Background
In 2011, the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative was created by the UN SecretaryGeneral to pursue three major objectives by 2030: ensuring universal energy access to modern
energy services, doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and doubling the
share of renewable energy use in global energy.
In 2012, the resolution by the UN General Assembly declaring 2012 as the International Year of
Sustainable Energy for All was successfully implemented with many activities and
commitments promoting a sustainable energy future. Also, in the outcome of the 2012 Rio+20
Conference on Sustainable Development (The Future We Want), Member States: (1) recognize
the critical role that energy play in the development process; (2) emphasize the need to address
the challenge of access to sustainable modern energy services for all; and (3) recognize that
improving energy efficiency, increasing the share of renewable energy and cleaner and energyefficient technologies are important for sustainable development.
In 2014, the resolution by the UN General Assembly declaring 2014-2024 the United Nations
Decade of Sustainable Energy for All entered into effect with many activities and commitments
and with the establishment of several technical hubs around the world to accelerate the objectives
of this SG's initiative.
Also, in 2014 the UN General Assembly proposed a set of Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) which included a dedicated and stand-alone goal on energy. SDG #7 calls to "ensure
access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all". In 2015, intergovernmental
negotiations continue on the SDGs and targets and on defining a corresponding set of indicators
for monitoring progress. As of 2015, energy stands at the centre of global efforts to induce a
paradigm shift towards low-carbon energy systems, green economies, poverty eradication and
ultimately sustainable development.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in September 2015 by the United
Nations General Assembly, give the energy issue a central role given the challenges and
opportunities that have. The global initiative Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) and the Goal 7
of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) aims to ensure by 2030: universal access to
energy services, double the rate of improvement in energy efficiency, increase the proportion of
renewables in the energy mix and increase international cooperation to promote sustainable
energy and energy services in the least developed countries.
It is expected that the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (ODS) - and their 169 targets
formulated in the framework of the Agenda 2030 - will encourage coordinated actions by
countries for the coming years on issues of critical importance for humanity and the planet. It
requires an unprecedented effort of alignment between the effective policy making and the due
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monitoring to improve, correct or change them according to the achieved performance to ensure
their effective implementation. Low carbon energy developments proved to be essential factors
for achieving sustainable development and poverty eradication.
At the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) in December 2015, countries adopted the first-ever
universal, legally binding global climate deal. The agreement sets out a global action plan to put
the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below
2°C. CO2 emissions from energy production, transformation, and use are at the heart of the
challenge, making up about 2/3 of anthropogenic emissions. If the world is to develop sustainably,
it is essential to secure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy, improve
energy efficiency, and to improve the environmental footprint of the energy sector.
The Global Tracking Framework (GTF) is a reporting mechanism that measures how the world
is progressing toward SE4All, tracking country-level indicators for energy access, renewable
energy and energy efficiency. The GTF is led by the World Bank and the International Energy
Agency (IEA), in coordination with the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program
(ESMAP) and other partner agencies. In all aspects of development, a sustained effort to build or
strengthen data gathering capacity and analytical capability is required in most countries. The first
GTF (2013) provided an initial approach for regular global reporting based on indicators that were
feasible to compute from current global energy databases and that offered scope for progressive
improvement over time. The identification of suitable indicators required for the framework poses
significant methodological challenges. Those challenges, however, are no more complex than
those faced in other aspects of development — such as poverty, human health, or access to
clean water and sanitation — where global progress has long been tracked. The second GTF
(2015) provided an update on how fast the world moved toward sustainable energy goals
between 2010 and 2012. The report assessed whether the world is moving fast enough to
achieve those goals by 2030 and showed that, while the world is moving in the right direction, it
will be necessary to accelerate efforts to reach sustainable energy goals by 2030.
The Executive Secretaries of the United Nations Regional Commissions have called for
Member States to accelerate the transition to a new, sustainable and fair energy system, tailored
to both national and global needs in the 2030 Agenda context. In order to address the gaps that
exist between current actions taken by governments and the commitments they have made with
coherent, comprehensive, coordinated, and economically rational action, it will be necessary to
understand the scale of the gaps in their various dimensions. The GTF was established by the
partner organizations under the leadership of The World Bank to measure how the world is
progressing toward the objectives of the SE4All initiative, and that is how the first two editions of
the GTF were presented. However, the SE4All objectives were overtaken and modified by the
2030 Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement. Sustainable Development Goal 7 presents the
targets in modified terms and includes additional targets that were not part of the SE4All initiative.
Further, as noted above, there are other energy-related sustainable development goals with their
own indicators.
Tracking progress going forward, will need to respond and adapt to the challenges posed by this
new environment.
Work on the third edition of the GTF has just begun. The United Nations Regional Commissions
have joined the consortium of organizations developing the third edition of the GTF to be released
in 2017. It will refine earlier updates, this time with a regional focus and building on the
contributions of the five United Nations Regional Commissions. Based on existing data gathering
capabilities and current indicators, the report will assess whether the world is moving fast enough
to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7.
Over the past years, ECLAC has been developing - in coordination with 19 countries of Latin
America - the BIEE Regional Program (http://www.cepal.org/drni/biee/). The acronym refers to
Regional dataBase on Energy Efficiency Indicators. While this program was limited only to the
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area of energy efficiency, the accumulated experience of working together with countries in datagathering and analysis of SDG7-related energy information has been very fruitful and turns out to
be a very important precedent on “how to interact and work together” with countries, in order to
generate monitoring instruments and coordinate national action plans on renewable energies and
energy access also.
This expertise accrued by ECLAC will be put at disposal of the other Regional Commissions to
measure properly (i.e. under an evidence-based approach) the contribution that energy makes to
the 2030 Agenda, in each region.
4.
Relationship to the Strategic Framework for the Period 2018 - 2019 and the
Sustainable Development Goals and Targets
This project proposal has a strong relationship with the Strategic Framework of ECLAC and in
particular with Subprogramme 9: Natural Resources and Infrastructure Division (NRID).
In addition, it is related to the Strategic Frameworks and the Workplans of the other 4 Regional
Commissions, who have been mandated to support Member States on mainstreaming SDGs into
their national development plans (¶80 and ¶ 81 of the GA resolution 70/1 on 2030 Agenda).
Priority is given to the provision of technical assistance and advisory services to countries to
enhance policy coherence and integration, promoting a long term vision in the context of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.
As an example, in May 2014 ECLAC's members countries created the “Forum of Latin American
and Caribbean Countries on Sustainable Development”, a regional mechanism generated to
follow-up and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development it eh
Region, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), its means of implementation, and
the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development.
The Regional Commissions note collectively that it will be necessary to measure properly the
contribution that energy makes to the 2030 Agenda; but they do not count on sufficient resources
and institutional architecture to address these challenges.
These challenges will require to: i) develop indicators that target the desired outcomes (such as
quality of life, quality of service, energy-sector carbon emissions); ii) develop capability to gather
and filter the data needed to track the indicators; ii) produce detailed country-level reports that can
inform Government policy-makers; and iv) work with Member States to develop and implement
sustainable energy action plans &/or policies that are founded on credible data.
To make this possible, it is necessary to create a “longer-term working structure” within each
Regional Commission on energy sustainability matters, linked to the of SDG#7; these structures
are envisaged to be active in an horizon of more than a decade (i.e. towards 2030) and will be
composed by specialists of Division or Departments related to Energy, Sustainable Development
and Statistics, in each Regional Commission
In addition, those structures will cooperate among them, in order to share their experiences and
expertise on methodologies’ development and application in each region.
All this could be achieved through the design, implementation and development of “Regional
Observatories on Sustainable Energies” managed by the Regional Commissions, that will
address and monitor - consistently and systematically - the process towards the achievement of
SDG#7 in each region.
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One the principal roles of the Observatory would be to empower the regions’ countries in managing
and interpreting SDG7-related energy information, with the specific commitment of establishing
National Focal Points (based in a governmental agency) for the Regional Observatories, thus
guaranteeing the long-term sustainability of the proposed action.
5.
Objective
Strengthen national capacities of the Regional Commissions’ member States to design, implement,
and monitor evidence-based sustainable energy action plans and policies, through the creation of
Regional Observatories on Sustainable Energies
6.
Expected Accomplishments
EA1: Strengthen the technical capacities of beneficiary countries to produce relevant and
comprehensive data sets of indicators on the energy-related Sustainable Development Goals.
EA2: Enhance national technical capacity of beneficiary countries to develop action plans, and
design & implement policies for sustainable energy
7.
Indicators of Achievement
IA1.1 Policymakers of 10 beneficiary countries acknowledge that they have improved their
understanding and technical capacity to design and implement evidence-based sustainable energy
policies and measures including the monitoring of targets related SDGs 7.
IA1.2 Increased number of harmonized methodologies for measuring relevant energy-related
sustainable development targets and indicators adopted in beneficiary countries.
IA1.3 Percentage of professionals from governmental institutions acknowledging that they
have benefited from the training workshops activities of the project to improve their work in
development and monitoring of sustainable energy policies.
IA1.4: A Regional Observatory on Sustainable Energies is in place in each Regional
Commission, at the same time that one National Focal Point for the Observatory is active in
governmental agencies of - at least - 10 countries
IA2.1 Sustainable energy action plans and/or dedicated policies are designed and adopted in
at least 5 beneficiary countries.
IA2.2 In close synergy with the Global Tracking Framework (GTF) yearly-based monitoring
process, regional reports on indicators on energy-related Sustainable Development Goals are
prepared each year, showing the improvement and timely progression of each region towards the
goals.
8.
Main Activities
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A1.1 Organize 1 workshop for discussion and coordination with countries and experts
(presentation of the initiative, appointment of focal points, schedule of activities, web-based
institutional networking, etc.). Activity to be deployed by all Regional Commissions
A1.2 Prepare a tool-kit template for data compilation including a methodological guide and a
summary global report on indicators for all energy-related sustainable development goals and
targets. Activity to be deployed by ECLAC
A1.3 Organize workshops for technical capacity building of beneficiary countries on data
compilation process and indicators identification and classification (to be coordinated in
collaboration with the GTF/BM and IEA).
Activity to be deployed by ECLAC, in coordination
with the other Regional Commissions
A1.4 Preparation, design and launch of “Regional Observatories on Sustainable Energy”
inside each Regional Commission. Activity to be deployed by all Regional Commissions
A2.1 Organize regional advisory missions for selected countries, to: i) identify needs and
assist in the development of sustainable energy action plans and/or dedicated policies; ii) support
the selection and capacity-building of the Observatory’s National Focal Point.
Activity to be
deployed by ECLAC, in coordination with the other Regional Commissions
A2.2 Publish regional reports on attainment of the energy-related sustainable development
goals, in close synergy with the Global Tracking Framework (GTF) yearly-based monitoring
process. Activity to be deployed by all Regional Commissions
A2.3 Develop policy papers that describe best practices, lessons learned, and guidelines on the
preparation and implementation of Sustainable Energy Action Plans based on experiences and
lessons learned relevant for each region. Activity to be deployed by ECLAC, in coordination with
the other Regional Commissions
9.
Budget narrative
Project total amount: $1,107,000
1. Other staff costs – GTA (015) $ 60,000 (Total)
Temporary assistance to perform the tasks of general assistance, in support of activities:
A1.1 (2 work months) x ( $2,000 per work month) = $4,000.
A1.3 (16 work months) x ( $2,000 per work month) = $32,000.
A1.4 (5 work months) x ( $2,000 per work month) = $10,000.
A2.1 (2.5 work months) x ( $2,000 per work month) = $4,000.
A2.2 (2.5work months) x ( $2,000 per work month) = $4,000.
A2.3 (3 work months) x ( $2,000 per work month) = $6,000.
2. Consultants and Experts (105): $ 247,000 (Total)
(a) International consultants
International consultants for the tasks of preparation of the methodological guides, the template and
tool kit for data compilation and the regional indicators publication and participation training
workshops and advisory missions in support of activities: A1.1 (1 work month), A1.2 (8 work
months), A1.3 (3 work months), A1.4 (2 work months) A2.2 (2 work months), A2.3 (2 work months) x
($6,000 per month) = $108,000.
In support of the evaluation of the project: (3 work months) x ($6,000 per work month) = $18,000.
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(b) National / Regional consultants
National consultants for tasks of support the data compilation process, develop national reports
identifying indicators trends and policy narrative, in support of activities A1.3 (18 work months), A2.1
(5 work months) and A2.2. (5 work months) x ($2,000 per month) = $56,000.
(c) Consultant travel
25 missions by consultants for the purpose of advisory and training activities, in support of activities
A1.1 (1 mission), A1.3 (12 missions), A1.4 (5 missions), and A2.1 (3 missions). ($2,000 average
mission cost) x (25 missions) = $50,000. Travel of consultants for the Regional launch of the
initiative and coordination (3000 US$ x 5 consultants)= $15,000
3. Travel of Staff (115): $ 140,000 (Total)
(a) UN Staff from the implementing entity
An amount of $90,000 is required for travel of UN staff for the purpose of workshops
organizations and participations, coordination meetings, advisory missions in support of activities
A1.1 (1 mission for 4 staff members), A1.3 (10 missions for 2 staff members each one), A1.4 (2
mission for 2 staff members) and A2.1 (8 missions for 1 staff members each one), A
($2,500 average mission cost) x (36 missions) = $90,000.
(b) Staff from other UN entities collaborating in project
16 missions by other UN staff for the purpose of of workshops organizations and participations,
coordination meetings, in support of activities A1.1 (1 mission for 4 staff members), A1.3 (3
missions for 4 staff members) and A1.4 (2 mission for 4 staff members).
($2,500 average mission cost) x (20 missions) = $50,000.
4. Contractual services (120): $60,000 (Total)
A provision of $60,000 is required for contractual services in support of activities A1.1,
A1.2, A1.3, A1.4, A2.1, A2.2, A2.3.
5. General operating expenses (125): $20,000 (Total)
(a) Communications
In support of A1.2, A1.4 (DBA, APIs, web-based software development), A2.3 and A2.2. = $15,000.
(b) Other general operating expenses
In support of A1.1, A1.2, A1.3, A1.4, A2.1, A2.2 and A2.3. = $5,000.
6. Supplies and Materials (135) $ 20,000 (Total)
A provision of $20,000 is required for technological equipments, promotional material and other
expendable supplies, as necessary
7. Workshops / Study Tours (Grants and Contributions) (145): $560,000 (Total)
(a) Workshops & seminars*
An amount of $530,000 is required for travel of workshop participants in support of A1.1, A1.3, and
A1.4.
(b) Study Tours*
One study tours for the purpose of provide group technical assistance in a developed country in support
of A2.1. Study tour duration: 4 days; ($3000 per study tour) x 10 participants = $30,000.
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