Clean energy for all: FAO's role in advancing SDG7
This month, the United Nations highlights Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7), emphasizing the critical role of affordable, reliable, clean and modern energy in driving global development.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is at the forefront of effort to integrate energy-smart solutions into agrifood systems, helping to enhance livelihoods, eradicate hunger and poverty, boost food security and build climate resilience.
Why energy matters
Energy and agriculture are deeply interconnected. Energy is fundamental to every stage of the agrifood systems. It powers irrigation systems, agricultural machinery, food processing, storage and transportation. Agrifood systems consume approximately 30 percent of globally available energy. At the same time, the agrifood sector provides significant bioenergy resources such as crop residues, animal manure and dedicated energy crops.
However, current agrifood systems are heavily dependent on fossil fuels. The energy used in agrifood systems accounts for about 30 percent of the sector’s overall greenhouse gas emissions, making the transition to sustainable energy in agriculture essential for achieving global climate goals and ensuring food security for a growing population.
Post-farm activities, including transportation, processing, packaging, shipping, storage and marketing, account for 70 percent of the energy consumed by agrifood systems. Alarmingly, an estimated one-third of all food produced is lost or wasted, resulting in a loss of about 38 percent of the energy used throughout food systems. This highlights the urgent need for energy-efficient practices and technologies to reduce food loss and waste.
Beyond the environmental implications, the lack of energy access exacerbates inequality and poverty. In 2022, 2.1 billion people lacked access to clean cooking facilities and relied on traditional biomass energy, adversely affecting health, economic development and environmental sustainability.
Recognizing this symbiotic relationship between energy and food, FAO integrates sustainable energy practices into its strategies to enhance productivity, resilience and environmental sustainability in agrifood systems to ensure no one is left behind.
FAO’s strategic contributions to SDG 7
FAO’s work on SDG 7 encompasses a range of initiatives designed to promote renewable energy, explore bioenergy potential, improve energy efficiency and ensure equitable energy access across agrifood systems. Below are some of FAO’s key contributions:
Expanding renewable energy in agrifood systems
Renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and bioenergy hold immense potential for transforming rural livelihoods. FAO works with member countries to integrate renewable energy solutions into agrifood systems to reduce the carbon footprint of agricultural activities.
In Uzbekistan, for instance, FAO identified the vast potential of solar and wind energy for agricultural transformation. Wind energy could generate around 60 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually, covering 49 percent of Uzbekistan's projected electricity demand by 2030. Solar energy additionally has the potential to generate approximately 180 TWh annually, enough to cover Uzbekistan's entire electricity needs by 2030.
Transitioning Uzbekistan’s wheat sector to solar energy could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25,000 tonnes annually, and shifting to broader renewable energy use could cut carbon emissions by 110,000 tonnes per year.
Read: Renewable energy interventions in the wheat landscape in Uzbekistan
Harnessing bioenergy for circularity
FAO actively explores bioenergy opportunities by utilizing organic residues from agrifood systems, including manure and crop residues. This enhances local energy security, generates income for farmers, promotes rural development and fosters a circular economy by turning waste into valuable resources.
In India, for instance, FAO developed a rice straw value chain model to optimize the collection, transportation and storage of crop residues—an alternative to burning practices that harm soil health and air quality. By utilizing just 30 percent of Punjab’s rice straw (5.4 million tonnes), the region could achieve significant environmental and energy benefits including a reduction of 9.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually and avoiding 66,000 tonnes of particulate matter emissions.
Enhancing energy efficiency in agrifood system
Improving energy efficiency is another cornerstone of FAO’s approach. Energy-efficient cold storage and processing technologies help to minimize food loss and waste, particularly in the global south, where post-harvest losses are high due to a lack of refrigeration. Reducing food loss and waste ensures that the energy used in the production, processing and transport of food is equally not lost and wasted.
FAO, for example, is working to reduce post-harvest losses in fisheries by improving cold chain infrastructure, which is essential for maintaining the quality and safety of fishery products. FAO is exploring renewable energy solutions to modernize fisheries value chains. By integrating technologies like solar power, FAO aims to improve energy efficiency, reduce costs and preserve fish freshness, all while minimizing the sector's carbon footprint. This approach not only helps small-scale fisheries reduce food loss and waste but also supports more resilient and sustainable value chains.
Read: The small-scale fisheries and energy nexus. Opportunities for renewable energy interventions
Watch: Reducing food loss and waste through sustainable food cold chains
Inclusive energy access
Inclusive energy access is central to FAO’s mission. The organization prioritizes vulnerable populations, including smallholder farmers, indigenous communities and women, ensuring they benefit from more sustainable energy solutions. FAO’s gender-sensitive energy programmes address the disproportionate burden of energy poverty on women, who often spend significant time collecting firewood and are exposed to health risks from traditional cooking methods.
For example, an FAO project in Rigan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, has provided for a switch from mud ovens to gas furnaces, which has enabled the women of Rigan to increase the production of Komaj bread, opening up new economic prospects for them to sell their product at local markets.
Read: An environmental and culinary revival in Iran
Capacity building and knowledge sharing
Through collaboration with governments, research institutions and local communities, FAO helps address energy challenges in agrifood systems.
FAO conducts in-depth research and analysis to better understand energy needs within agrifood systems and offers technical assistance for project implementation and provides guidance on the design and technical specifications of renewable energy systems for agrifood value chains.
FAO also facilitates stakeholder dialogues and helps develop frameworks and recommendations that integrate energy-smart strategies into broader national development plans.
Leveraging partnerships for impact
FAO actively collaborates with global partners, including the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP), UN-Energy. These partnerships amplify FAO’s impact by mobilizing resources, expertise, and innovative technologies to support SDG 7 initiatives at scale.
The road ahead: Scaling up for SDG 7
Achieving SDG 7 by 2030 requires accelerated action and investment in sustainable energy. FAO is committed to scaling up its efforts by:
- Supporting the adoption of energy-smart agrifood systems solutions tailored to local needs and conditions.
- Supporting countries in developing and implementing policies and practices that incentivize green energy solutions in agrifood systems.
- Promoting the integration and prioritization of agrifood solutions and energy-smart agrifood systems approaches within national policies and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), to ensure the alignment of these sectors for the fulfillment of SDGs and the climate targets under the Paris Agreement, while also mobilizing resources accordingly.
- Deepening partnerships with governments, the private sector, and civil society to drive transformative change.
- Enhancing data collection and analysis to ensure access to sustainable energy to help agrifood system actors adapt to climate change, improve productivity, support job creation, gender equality, local and rural development, as well as to reduce hunger and poverty.