Victoria R Nalule 1
Xiaoyi (Shawn) MU 2
INTRODUCTION
Access to modern energy such as electricity is key in the economic development of any country, and yet over 600 million people remain with no access to electricity in developing countries. It is true that both renewable energy and fossil fuels are key in the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development (UN SDG) Goal 7 and Goal 1 on energy access and poverty eradication respectively. However, the current global efforts to transition to a low carbon economy, and tackle climate change as stipulated in the SDG 13 and the 2015 Paris Agreement, have created a lot of tension on fossil fuel developments in recent years. This commentary article is presented as a question and answer session aimed at addressing the misconceptions surrounding the achievement of SDG 7 and SDG 13 in this energy transition era. The paper is of interest to oil producing countries. The article follows the various questions raised by policymakers during an online seminar delivered by both the authors entitled, ‘Fossil Fuels in the Energy Transition Era’.
Keywords: Energy Access; Climate Change; Energy Transitions; clean energy technology: Sustainable Development
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v11i2.7
1 Victoria R. Nalule holds a PhD in International Energy Law and Policy from the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP), University of Dundee. She is currently working on the DFID-funded Extractives Hub project in the UK as a Research Fellow. She is also the founder and Executive Director of the African Energy and Minerals Management Initiative (AEMI).
2 Dr. Xiaoyi (Shawn) Mu is a Reader in Energy Economics at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP), the University of Dundee. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Oklahoma in 2006 and Bachelor’s degree in economics from Renmin University of China in 1994.