24 September 2026
In the five years since the
United Nations launched the Energy
Compacts to mobilize voluntary commitments from all
stakeholders, 308 million people have gained new or improved
access to electricity through these actions, according to
the fifth edition of the Energy
Compacts Annual Progress Report being released
today. Still, 655 million live without electricity, and
progress has slowed on this and other global energy targets
underSustainable
Development Goal 7(SDG7), such as clean cooking and
energy efficiency, underscoring the urgent need to
accelerate.
The report, which is being launched at the
EnergyNow
SDG7 Action Forum on the margins of the UN General
Assembly, shows expanding impact under the Energy Compact
voluntary commitments on both energy access and transition.
Since the Energy Compacts were launched in 2021 — in
connection with the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy —
substantial results have been generated against the 164
commitments registered, mostly by governments and the
private sector, according to the annual
report.
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Progress towards affordable and clean energy
for all continues, but the latest data and analysis
underscores the need to accelerate action. The next phase
offers an opportunity to build on this momentum, scale
investment and partnerships, and advance more resilient,
inclusive and sustainable energy systems towards 2030 and
beyond.
“Over the past five years, the annual Energy
Compact report has provided more than a record of
commitments. It has become a valuable tool for tracking
where momentum is building, where gaps persist, and where
greater ambition, investment and collaboration are
needed,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed
said in an introductory letter. “At a time when the world
is striving to expand energy access, protect consumers from
rising energy costs, and accelerate the transition to
cleaner and more resilient energy systems, understanding
what works and where progress is stalling is essential. The
scale of today’s energy challenges demands collective
action. That is how individual commitments become aligned
efforts, and aligned efforts become transformative
progress.”
Expanding results on energy transition and
access
The Energy Compacts annual report shows
growing cumulative impact across all the SDG7 targets,
albeit too slow. Since 2021, 36.2 million people have gained
access to clean cooking through Energy Compact proponents,
up from 33 million as of last year, but far from the goal of
serving the 2 billion people still cooking with polluting
fuels, with severe impacts on their health and the
environment.
Renewables growth continues to move
forward, with 338 Gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity
installed since 2021 through Energy Compact action,
equivalent to three-quarters of the renewable energy
capacity in the USA, and up from 301 GW last year. However,
much of this growth has been in developed countries,
creating a huge disparity with renewable capacity in less
wealthy countries.
Energy saved through efficiency
measures under the Energy Compacts has risen sharply from 43
Terawatt hours (TWh) in 2024 to 417 TWh now, cumulative
since 2021. But this rise is based on a small number of
Energy Compacts reporting large changes and does not reflect
that among the SDG7 indicators, energy efficiency is the one
falling furthest behind globally.
The cumulative
amount of finance mobilized or deployed by Energy Compact
proponents has nearly doubled in the last two years,
reaching US$389 billion in total this year, compared to
US$201 billion in 2024, against US$ 1.6 trillion pledged by
2030. Most of the funding mobilized is private sector
investment in renewable generation. The report cites figures
from Tracking
SDG7: The Energy Progress Report
2026estimating that over $4 trillion total
investment is needed annually to achieve universal energy
access, while setting the world on a climate action
trajectory towards net-zero emissions by 2050 and averting
ever-worsening climate impacts.
Positive impacts on
health, transport, jobs
Updated global figures also
show how action under the Energy Compacts has had positive
impacts on a wide range of Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), such as by improving electricity access at over
17,217 health facilities serving some 43 million people
(SDG3), and by helping to deploy over 2.9 million electric
vehicles and over 379,000 charging stations (SDG11). The
report also noted 1.66 million green jobs created, with over
837,000 people receiving training (SDG8).
Case studies
and examples in the report highlight progress on a diverse
range of Energy Compacts, including the 24/7 Carbon-Free
Energy compact, with over 165 signatories to a
multi-stakeholder coalition; the Just and Inclusive Energy
Transition Compact, which has moved from ten agreed
principles to an active network; a Gender & Energy
Compact supporting women entrepreneurs and gender data in
the energy sector; IRENA’s seven Compacts to promote
offshore wind, solar and geothermal for islands and
developing countries; D-REC, a market mechanism to make
distributed renewable energy financeable; and EnergizeSEA, a
youth-led action plan for SDG7 in Southeast Asia.
The
Energy Compact report includes guidance on how national
governments, regions and cities, private companies,
financial institutions, UN agencies and civil society
organizations can submit their own Energy Compact
commitments through an online
process.
The report was prepared by UN-Energy,
the coordination mechanism which includes more than 30 UN
and international organizations that work on energy issues,
with data compiled and analysed by Sustainable Energy for
All
(SEforALL).
