Report by: CAFOD.

While the impacts of climate change are hitting the poorest countries and groups hardest, they are being felt globally, including in the UK. At the Paris Climate Summit in December 2015, the UK joined almost 200 other governments in agreeing to limit average global warming to “well below” 2°C, signalling a new era for international cooperation on climate change.

Given that around two thirds of emissions globally are from the energy sector, principally from burning fossil fuels, a global shift to sustainable and efficient energy systems is essential to implement the Paris Agreement. It is also crucial for many areas of poverty reduction and sustainable development, as the new Sustainable Development Goal on access to “affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030 (SDG7) recognises.

The UK has promised to support the SDGs, including SDG7 as a priority for DFID. UK support must be targeted, joined-up – and all of it must be consistent with climate change and poverty reduction objectives – if we are to help countries shift or “leapfrog” to more sustainable energy systems that leave no-one behind, and more widely protect the poorest communities and countries from the impacts of a changing climate.

Understanding energy poverty and how to end it – including busting a number of myths – is important if we are to achieve SDG7 in the next 15 years. These FAQs are part of CAFOD’s contribution to building this understanding among UK decision-makers.

Open The Ending Energy
Poverty by 2030 FAQs