TRACKING SDG7: THE ENERGY PROGRESS REPORT

The world is not on track to meet SDG7 by 2030, with progress falling short across all four targets. While electricity access is accelerating in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and renewable energy is growing in the electricity sector, access to clean cooking remains the most lagging area. Energy efficiency is improving, particularly in the industrial sector, though the rate of improvement is below the target required to double the global rate by 2030.

• The world is currently failing to meet all four targets of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), which aims for universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030.
• Approximately 1 billion people, or 13% of the global population, lack electricity. While access is increasing by about 118 million people annually, current trajectories suggest 674 million people will still be without power in 2030.
• Electrification is accelerating in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of people without access has begun to fall in absolute terms for the first time. Strong performers in East Africa, as well as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania, have expanded access by at least 3% of their population annually between 2010 and 2016.
• Access to clean cooking is the most lagging SDG7 target, with over 3 billion people (more than 40% of the population) lacking clean fuels and technologies. This results in approximately 4 million deaths annually due to household air pollution.
• Renewable energy reached 17.5% of total final energy consumption in 2015, with modern renewables accounting for 9.6%. While renewables in the electricity sector reached 22.8% in 2015, penetration remains very low in transport (2.8%) and heating (24.8%, with only one third from modern sources).
• Global energy intensity declined by an average of 2.2% annually between 2010 and 2015, but this is below the 2.6% annual decline required to double the rate of energy efficiency improvement by 2030.
• Economic growth is uncoupling from energy use, as global GDP grew nearly twice as fast as primary energy supply between 2010 and 2015 across all income groups and all regions except Western Asia.

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2018). TRACKING SDG7: THE ENERGY PROGRESS REPORT. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2019-05/TrackingSDG7_18-executive_summary.pdf

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. TRACKING SDG7: THE ENERGY PROGRESS REPORT. 2018. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2019-05/TrackingSDG7_18-executive_summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=TRACKING SDG7: THE ENERGY PROGRESS REPORT |date=2018 |url=https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2019-05/TrackingSDG7_18-executive_summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2018tracking, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{TRACKING SDG7: THE ENERGY PROGRESS REPORT}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2018}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2019-05/TrackingSDG7_18-executive_summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }