From Call to Count: Gender-Responsive Energy Actions for the Final Mile (HLPF 2026 Side Event)

Okay, good morning everyone. Let's just wait one more minute. Okay, good morning. Can everyone hear me reasonably well? Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, partners, and friends, welcome to today's high-level political forum and side event, From Call to Gender Responsive Energy Across Actions for the Final Mile. This event is co-organized by ENERGIA International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy and the World Bank Group's Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, ESMAP, in cooperation with governments of Iceland and Kenya, and with support from UNDESA and colleagues from the Working Group on Gender Indicators for Sustainable Energy. My name is Fanny Misfeld-Winkius. I am a manager for ESMAP, or the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, at the World Bank Group. It's a real pleasure for me to welcome this distinguished group of speakers and partners. I would also like to recognize our ESMAP donor partners here today. Including Iceland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Canada, whose leadership and support have helped make this work possible. We are here today because gender equality is essential to achieving universal energy access. Yet SDG 7 remains one of the few goals, um, without a dedicated gender indicator. If we do not measure who benefits from energy access, who is left behind, and whether women can participate in and benefit from the energy transition, we cannot fully deliver on its promise. This is why today's discussion is so important. Exactly a year ago, we issued a call to action highlighting the urgent need for better gender data in energy and for global monitoring frameworks such as SDG 7 to include metrics that would take into account the different ways women and girls are impacted by electrification. Since then, we have made important progress on two intertwined fronts. First, strengthening the evidence-based two— uh, country mapping exercise, and second, engaging with gender focal points in ministries of energy and national statistics organizations, um, through global and regional partnerships. This week we launch the 2026 edition of the HLPF policy brief. It maps out what gender data is currently available and what it reveals about women's energy access and economic opportunities in the energy sector. While also exposing the gaps we still need to fill. The progress has been possible because organizations have come together around a shared agenda. Anchored in the SDG7 Technical Advisory Group platform, our Working Group on Gender Data and Sustainable Energy has grown to 14 organizations, including the SDG7 custodian agencies, UN Women and the co-conveners of the Gender and Energy Compact, and regional energy organizations like AFREC and OLACTE. This collective effort is helping to shape concrete outcomes, including the recognition of gender equality as a key pillar in UN Energy's Roadmap to 2030. This positive impact is visible not not just in global policy, but in practice. In World Bank Group supported projects, such as the Distributed Access to Renewable Energy Scale-up, or DARES project in Nigeria, and the Rwanda Renewable Energy Fund, deliberate gender interventions are creating tangible opportunities. Opportunities not only for women, but opportunities to get things done better for energy access in general. For example, women's employment in Nigeria's off-grid solar companies has more than doubled, while women now represent 45% of off-grid solar jobs in Rwanda. When gender is intentionally integrated into energy programs, women thrive as workers and as entrepreneurs. But our work is far from finished. We must continue working together and continue using evidence to drive investment and scale approaches that expand women's access to electricity and opportunities across the energy value chain. Today is an opportunity to sustain this momentum, learn from country and partner experiences, and spotlight these positive achievements. We have a full agenda today, and I look forward to hearing from our distinguished speakers. I kindly ask everyone to keep their remarks brief so that we can hear from as many voices as possible. With that, I would like to invite Dr. Sheila Oparaocha— sorry, Sheila, after so many years— Director of ENERGIA International Network on Gender and for Sustainable Energy and co-convener of the Gender and Energy Compact, to provide and present the findings of our latest work. Over to you, Sheila. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Fanny. And I think one of the tests of being a moderator is how you pronounce the names of your panelists, but you pronounce mine well. Good morning, distinguished delegates and colleagues. First, let me join my fellow co-organizers and welcome you to this this important side event as one of the co-conveners of the Gender and Energy Compact, together with UNIDO, SE4ALL, and GWNET. Could we go to the next slide, please? I'm pleased to share with you some of the highlights of the work undertaken since the launch of the 2025 HLPF policy brief, Gender Indicators for Sustainable Energy: A Call to Action. As Fanny already shared, to move from concept to action, The Working Group established a roadmap and launched a country mapping exercise to better understand the current state of gender and energy data and identify critical gaps. This mapping follows an agreed framework based on two core dimensions. The first is energy access. Clean energy mitigates health risks for women, reduces time poverty resulting from unpaid care work, and opens pathways to entrepreneurship and livelihoods. For the energy sector, engaging women as consumers and clean energy providers unlocks market growth and provides vital user insights. The second dimension is economic opportunities. The clean energy transition offers women a pathway to decent quality jobs. For an energy sector facing labor bottlenecks, Increasing women's participation— and women currently make up less than 5% of the technical workforce— will help bridge critical skill gaps and drive innovation. Yet, as the policy brief highlights, despite these clear interlinkages, SDG 7 currently lacks a dedicated gender indicator to measure and track these critical dimensions. To identify practical pathways for strengthening gender matrixes in the energy sector, we began by asking a simple question: What data do countries already collect? Using a replicable country mapping methodology, we reviewed national data systems across a growing number of countries. What we discovered is a defined data paradox. The data exists, but it remains largely invisible. Across many countries, standard national surveys already collect the raw information needed to measure key aspects of energy access and the participation in the energy workforce. The underlying datasets contain variables that can be analyzed by sex, and used to generate valuable gender insights. However, these opportunities are rarely reflected in official reporting. In many cases, we find that the data that could be sex disaggregated rarely is analyzed or reported in that way. And where reporting does take place, the absence of common standards results in significant inconsistencies across countries. This finding has important strategic implications. It suggests that the gender data gap is not primarily a data collecting— data collection challenge. Rather, it is an analysis, disaggregation, and reporting challenge. This insight opens a pragmatic way forward, leveraging existing statistical infrastructure which is— we will try to demonstrate in the next two slides. Because countries rarely report sex-disaggregated data on electricity access, we analyze microdata from 30 recent demographic and health surveys to demonstrate the type of insights that are already available within existing data. For electricity access, the direction and magnitude of gender gaps vary significantly across countries. And my apologies that the slide is small, but we will make these slides available for all of you to read. For example, in Ethiopia, female-headed households hold a distinct advantage with nearly 13 percentage points higher electrification rates. Co-conversely, in Angola, male-headed households lead by nearly 10% points. We also examined appliance ownership, which provides a more nuanced picture of how electricity is actually used. Male-headed households typically dominated ownership of entertainment assets such as televisions, while female-headed households showed a stronger tendency towards domestic appliances such as refrigerators. These results align closely with the development literature illustrating how intra-household resource allocation reflects gender divisions of labor and differentiating asset priorities. Next slide, please. Similarly, employment in the energy sector is not systematically disaggregated by sex. However, our mapping exercise captured countries that do report it. As shown on the slide, indicators vary across countries. Countries may report multiple indicators based on different data sources, for example, household labor surveys or enterprise surveys. Data is most often categorized under the broad industrial classifications of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply. Finally, one important gap to highlight from the findings of the country mapping is that data on employment in the renewable energy sector is still scarce. Next slide, please. In conclusion, allow me to convey three key takeaways from the country mapping. First, the headline finding from our work is that the challenge is not the lack of primary data collection. The foundations are already there. Countries are collecting much of the information needed to measure the links between gender and clean energy. Second, what is missing is the systematic analysis, sex disaggregation, and upward reporting of this data. Third, this insight reframes our solution. We must leverage existing national surveys and pair them with clear reporting standards. Moving into our next phase, the working group's operational agenda is: expanding the MICMEC exercise to 50 priority countries while finalizing and validating all country profiles with national experts and institutions, capturing missing dimensions, particularly by exploring ways to incorporate women's agency and decision-making into the data, and deliver a global synthesis note that summarizes the key trends, common indicators, and initial data gaps across all 50 countries. Thank you, Fanny, and over to you.

Thank you so much, Sheila, for what I think is really good progress achieved by everyone around the table here over the last year. I'm now very honored to introduce the co-host of today's event, Her Excellency Ambassador Anna Johansson Stottir, Permanent Representative of Iceland to the United Nations. He brings deep diplomatic and multilateral experience, including senior leadership roles in Iceland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs and as Iceland's Permanent Representative to NATO. Thank you.

Thank you so much, and excellent work on my surname. Excellencies, colleagues, dear friends, good morning and thank you for joining us. It is a pleasure to be with you as we, as we reflect on our joint progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 7 and the broader ambitions of the 2030 Agenda. As we all know, energy is central to sustainable development. Around the world, countries and regions are working to expand access to energy, strengthen energy security, and accelerate the transition to cleaner energy systems. These efforts are essential for economic prosperity, climate action, and sustainable growth. The success of that transition, however, will depend on who is included in shaping of it— in shaping it. The benefits of sustainable energy are not reaching everyone equally. Women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by energy poverty, with implications for health, education, economic opportunities, and livelihoods. At the same time, barriers to participation and leadership continue to limit the contribution of people whose knowledge, skills, and perspectives are essential to achieving a truly inclusive and sustainable energy transition. Addressing these challenges does not happen automatically. It requires sustained effort, commitment, and willingness to remove barriers that prevent people from contributing fully. In Iceland, we have seen the value of this effort firsthand. The progress we enjoy today is the result of decades of determined effort to advance gender equality. Women across the country have organized, advocated, and driven change, helping to create the foundations for meaningful social and policy reforms. These developments are are also reflected in the energy sector, where women increasingly contribute to leadership and decision-making. While a lot of work remains to further enhance inclusion, Iceland's experience has reinforced an important lesson: broader participation leads to stronger outcomes. When talent, expertise, and leadership are drawn from the whole population, societies become more innovative, resilient, and better equipped to address complex challenges. The same holds true for energy transition. The principle has also guided Iceland's international engagement. Throughout our development partnership, we seek to promote opportunities, inclusive decision-making, and support activities that enhance equal energy access, regardless of gender. Allow me to conclude by highlighting one point that is central to today's discussion. To accelerate process— progress, gender considerations must be integrated systematically into energy planning, implementation, and monitoring. This requires quality data, as explained here in the first context setting, as well as strong partnerships and cooperation across governments. International organizations, civil society, financial institutions, and the private sector. Today's discussion provides an opportunity to consider how we can strengthen this connection in practice. It allows us to share experiences, identify gaps, and consider how global efforts on sustainable energy can better reflect and respond to the realities of people's lives. Iceland greatly values the partnerships that have helped advance this agenda, and we remain committed to working with governments, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector to support a sustainable and inclusive energy future. I thank the organizers for convening this event and look forward to the discussion. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Ambassador. At this point, we also like to thank the co-host, Kenya, the government of Kenya, for their participation. The participant who was scheduled to be here, Mr. Paul Mbuthi, advisor to the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum of the government of Kenya, is unfortunately not able to be present today. But we have been given authorization for Sheila to read his remarks. So over to you, Sheila, for reading his remarks.

Thank you. And it just shows that when you work on women's issues, they're very inclusive and cut across different institutions. And I think my mother is from Kenya, so I'm happy to be doing this as well. So it's my pleasure to deliver the statement that was to be delivered by Mr. Paul Mbuthi on behalf of the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum From the Government of Kenya. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to speak on behalf of the Government of Kenya as co-host of this important dialogue. As we approach the final stretch of 2030, the question before us is no longer whether we can achieve universal energy access. The real question is whether we can reach the last mile in a way that is equitable, inclusive and transformative. The final mile is no longer defined by geography alone. It is defined by the millions of women and girls who continue to bear the disproportionate burden of energy poverty. It is defined by the entrepreneur without reliable electricity, the mother still cooking with polluting fuels, and young girls whose opportunities are limited because clean and modern energy remains beyond reach. The policy note rightly reminds us that unless we act differently, hundreds of women will still be left behind by 2030. Kenya has learnt an important lesson: energy policies become more effective when gender equality is designed into them, not added as an afterthought. Over the years, Kenya has embedded gender considerations in energy policy and planning, undertaken gender assessments, expanded women's participation in clean cooking value change, strengthened access to productive uses of energy, and placed inclusivity at the center of our national energy transition. Today, through integrated national energy planning, we are ensuring that evidence, participation, and equity shapes investment decisions from the national level to counties. Yet we recognize that good intentions are not enough. If we are serious about leaving no one behind, we must move from commitment to accountability, from antidotes to evidence, from counting connections to counting lives transformed. This requires three global actions. First, we must strengthen gender-disaggregated energy data. What is not measured is too often ignored. Better data will enable better policies, smarter investments, and stronger accountability. Second, we must invest in women not only as beneficiaries of energy access, but as leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and decision-makers driving the energy transition. Third, we must ensure that financing for the final mile deliberately reaches those who have historically been excluded. Particularly women-led enterprises and underserved communities. Excellencies, the energy transition will only be just if it works for everyone. Gender equality is therefore not a social add-on. It is a prerequisite for achieving SDG 7 and an accelerator for the entire 2030 Agenda. Kenya calls upon member states, development partners, financial institutions, and the private sector to join us in making gender-responsive energy action the global standard. Let us ensure that every national energy plan, every investment decision, and every progress report answers one simple question: Who is being reached? Who is benefiting? And who is still being left behind? The final mile is our greatest opportunity to demonstrate that sustainable development is measured not only by megawatts generated or connections made, but by lives improved, opportunities created, and equalities achieved. Let us move together from call to count and from ambition to measurable impact. I thank you.

Thank you so much, Sheila, for speaking in Paul's contribution, Paul being the advisor to the Kenya Ministry of Energy and Petroleum So now we're moving to a different segment of this session, which is really about member state leadership. And I'm very pleased to introduce Her Excellency Dr. Bahia Tazeebli, who's the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations. She's a distinguished diplomat and an international human rights expert and has over 3 decades of experience in diplomacy, international law, and multilateral affairs. Over to you. Thank you.

Thank you very much for giving me the floor. Good morning, everyone. Wonderful to see you all, and also seeing that the room is slowly, slowly really becoming completely full, so that's a good sign that this topic is very much close to your minds and hearts. It is a great pleasure for me to join you all here on behalf of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, my country, for this event. And I love the title, and it's also so meaningful: Gender-Responsive Energy Actions for the Final Mile. Just explaining how far we are removed from the finish line. For those who run, and Anna, I mean, we love running, it means a lot because then you're usually tired and need stamina and resilience to carry on to the finish line. I also would like to really thank the organizers for bringing this this crucial topic to the forefront. So thank you, Iceland. Thank you, Kenya. Thank you, ESMAP, and thank you, EnergiA. Wonderful that you, yeah, acted as a magnet to bring us all together. Yes, this topic is very close to my heart. In my previous capacity as Human Rights Ambassador for the Netherlands, I was working for years to, you know, continuously promote and protect human rights in different parts of the world. And also when it came to gender equality, this was something I was really advocating for that it remains high on the international agenda, of course, always with like-minded countries and civil society organizations. And also in my current capacity as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative, I remain, of course, committed to that same priority. Well, we already heard from the various speakers that SDG 7 and gender are very closely linked, and they should be closely linked. Gender equality is fundamental to a sustainable energy transition, and that was very clearly understood from all the interventions. And my country actively supports the key SDG 7-related programs run by the World Bank, ESMAP, UN DESA, and also IEA. As well as government aid agencies such as the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and also the Dutch Development Bank. We also partner, and we are happy to do so, with EnergiA, for example, under the umbrella of the Energizing Development Program. As we could also hear from previous speakers, through gender indicators in all these programs, we can track how they empower women. And what we see is women are disproportionately vulnerable to energy poverty. Access to energy frees up time that can be spent on, for example, education and work. And access to clean cooking solutions reduces premature deaths of women and children caused by indoor air pollution. But framing women only as a vulnerable group would ignore the enormous potential as leaders, entrepreneurs, skilled workers, and decision makers. Empowering women to take on leadership roles and to grow as entrepreneurs is just as important, because true leadership is about empowerment, often in the most literal sense. However, what we see, despite all efforts, the energy sector remains one of the least gender-diverse sectors in the economy. And this is, in some ways, really difficult to explain. And what happens is that leaves a major talent pool underused at precisely the moment we need more skills, innovation, and leadership to deliver the energy transition. In such an innovation-driven sector, equality and diversity are not a luxury but a necessity, and tracking progress through gender indicators is essential. As we heard, tracking progress through our gender indicators has provided us with important insights that I would like to share. First, tracking progress is crucial to increase gender awareness and to uncover systemic limitations throughout our programs. This is a continuous program— process that needs repeated attention. Besides data from our own indicators, we benefit from the concerted efforts of the IEA, IRENA, MTF, and RISE. A second insight: gender awareness alone is not enough. Systemic limitations must be addressed, and to do this effectively, we need to tackle root causes. For that, it is important that women are not only recipients of support, but equal partners. And to share the third and last insight: Do not ignore small practical steps. Time and location matter. Women are often the primary care— caregivers.. And there are moments when care responsibilities mean they miss important opportunities. In conclusion, I would like to underscore once more my country's firm commitment to this agenda. And again, we are very happy to be present at this event. And I also personally really hope that the outcomes of this side event will help advance it in the coming years. So thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Excellency. We now hear from Ms. Lydia John, Team Leader for Energy— for the Energy Access Team and Energy for Development International Energy Unit, Energy and Climate Directorate at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, otherwise known as FCDO, of the UK. Before joining FCDO, Ms. John led the COP26 Energy Transition Council at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Over to you, Lydia.

Thanks very much. Can you hear me okay? And great to be here, and apologies in advance for such a long job title and such a long acronym for my department. But it's great to be here today, and it's a pleasure to give this statement on this really critical and important event on behalf of the United Kingdom. So, first of all, thank you to the chair, ESMAP, and ENERGIA, and welcome to all the excellencies, distinguished colleagues, and guests here today. I think it's really important that before sort of talking about the progress across the sector, that we situate when the goal was created in 2012. As Ban Ki-moon said, energy is the golden thread across development. Connecting societies, economies, empowering opportunity for all. And over a decade later, those words can't ring truer, and we've seen how important and how systemic energy is into sort of developing society. But in that sort of development, you can see that across the piece, energy access and the SDG 7 target isn't equally being met, and the progress isn't equally being met either. And part of that reason is, you can see, is because that often energy and gender aren't treated as mutually inclusive and sort of indicators. They're treated as separate issues. And we can't treat something and leave out 50% of humanity when we're driving forward our action. And I think it's really important that we don't view women as just beneficiaries of energy, we see them as active participants across the sector. And as my Excellency's pointed as well, that women are entrepreneurs, they're the decision makers, and often they're the ones leading the households, driving forward the economic decisions. So therefore, when we think about building a secure, resilient energy future for all, women must be at the heart of that as well. And I think part of the reason when we look at the SEGA G7 indicators, the indicator that's most off track at the moment, clean cooking, we can all often agree here that part of that reason is because it is impacting women and girls the most. And I won't go over the statistics that we almost know here, but we all know that 2.1 billion people across the planet right now don't have access to clean cooking solutions, and that disproportionately impacts women and girls. So I'd like to sort of I can speak to what the UK is doing in this action. We've got a long and strong— long and strong-term sort of commitment to a just inclusive transition for all, and it's in our legislation since 2016. All public money that's spent on our ODA must have a gender indicator, and across our both domestic and international interventions, think about how are not only women but across the broader Gen Z implications are sort of considered as well. And if I sort of break it down into our domestic as well, we are committed to making the UK a clean energy superpower by 2030, and to be able to do that, we are setting up an office for the sort of clean centre and jobs, and part of that is trying to work with community community groups, retrain women within the sector, as we appreciate that the current data of the sector indicates that women aren't active participants, so we're looking to retrain more women within the sector, as we believe that the only way that the clean energy transition will be successful is incorporating women within that sector and advance that sector also. But also on an international level, I previously mentioned how we're doing that in legislation, but also through our flagship programs such as Transforming Energy Access and Modern Energy Cooking Services, which you'll hear from Ed Brown today. We have clear indicators that are responsive to gender so that our results— because we know how important data is— can speak to the work that's sort of being done in that way. And I think international cooperation is a powerful tool to achieving gender parity, and the UK is an active member of multilateral efforts. Such as forums here today. And in particular, I'd like to call out the CEM Equality in Energy Transitions initiative that we're proud to be a signatory of, which is the CEM campaign to work towards equal pay leadership opportunity for women in the clean energy sector by 2030. But I think clear, clear as we sort of leave the high-level political forum this week and we think about what's next, when we're pushing for what is next, we— it clearly must be women at the heart of those decision-making, and clearly women's experiences and lived realities must be also at the forefront of decision-making as well. I'll close by saying the UK will continue to work with partners, governments, civil society, multilateral development bank to push forward a just, inclusive transition for all.. And I'm hoping that as we sort of move forward, there will be no need for events that call upon an action for gender inclusivity because it rings true for everything that we do across policy. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Lydia. Let's now turn to a more regional perspective and listen to the evidence and data-driven insights from both Africa and Latin America. I'm pleased to introduce Mr. Samson Bellobo Ndohu, who's the head of Energy Information Systems and Statistics Division at the African Energy Commission, AFREC. Samson, please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Fanny, for moderating this session. Excellency, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to address you here on the perspective of African Energy Commission, the specialized agency of African Union responsible for coordinating the energy information system and supporting African Union member states in strengthening energy statistics. As you are well aware, Africa is making significant progress toward expanding access to modern energy. Yet one fundamental challenge remains. We still know too little about who is benefiting from that progress. Behind every national statistical are real people. I think this is very important. Women and gender continue to spend our collecting traditional fuel. Women entrepreneurs often face limited access to reliable electricity for productive activity. Women remain underrepresented in the energy workforce and the energy decision-making. Yet many of these realities remain invisible because our statistical systems were not originally designed to capture them. As we often say, what is not counted is too often not considered, and what is not considered is unlikely to be prioritized. Recognizing this challenge, the African Energy Commission, in partnership with the International Development Research Centre of Canada, developed what we call the Methodology Guidelines on the Integration of Gender into SDG 7 Indicator. In Africa. This guideline represents the first continental-wide methodological framework dedicated to integrate gender into energy statistics and the reporting. The guideline provides our— to our African Union member states with a practical tool of— to strengthen collaboration between the Ministry of Energy, National Statistical Office, and gender institutions to harmonize data collection methodology and systematized integration of gender dimension into the energy information system. However, our ambition go beyond producing better statistics.

We want to ensure that gender-responsive energy data become an essential part of policymaking, investment planning, and accountability. This work is particularly important as Africa advance major continental priorities such as what you call African Continental Free Trade Area, the Mission 300, managed by World Bank and then African Development Bank, both which depend on reliable evidence to ensure that energy investment promotes inclusive economic growth and reach women, youth, and, and, and the community. Looking ahead, I believe that that 4 priorities are scaling efforts through our Agenda 2030 and Beyond. First, we must move from pilot— we must move from pilot initiative to institutionalize. Gender-responsive energy statistics should become a routine function of a national statistical system and energy information system, supported by sustainable financing strong institutional ownership. Second, we must invest in people as much as in the data. Strengthening national capacity, including statisticians, energy planners, policymakers, and researchers, is essential if data are to be transformed into evidence that shapes public policy. Third, we need stronger regional and global partnerships. No single institution can achieve this alone. Regional organizations, the United Nations system, development partners, academia, civil society, and private sector all have important roles in harmonizing methodologies, sharing innovation, and mobilizing resources. Finally, Africa is a unique opportunity to contribute— has a unique opportunity to contribute to a future of global energy monitoring. As discussions begin of the evolution of SDG 7 beyond 2030. The evidence generated through Africa's experience can help ensure that future global indicators better reflect equality, equity, inclusion, and the reality of women and men across different energy contexts. Ladies and gentlemen, energy responsible— energy statistics are not simply a number. They are the evidence that allows governments to design better policy That help direct investment where they are most needed. They make women, girls visible in national energy planning. And they ensure that energy transition is not only faster, but is fairer. At AFREC, African Energy Commission, we believe that better data leads to better decision. Better decision leads to better investment. And better investment leads to better life. As we work toward the SDG 7 and then Agenda 2030, let's move measuring how many people have access. Let's measure who benefits, who is left behind, and how energy can become a driver of equality, opportunity, and sustainable development for all. Africa Energy Commission remains fully committed to working with member states, the United Nations family, development partners, research institutions, to make gender-responsive energy statistics a cornerstone of Africa's energy transition and mindful contribution to the global sustainable development agenda. I thank you.

Thank you so much, Samson, for making such a clear case for better data. With that, I would like to turn to a video. Miss Gloria Dolores Alvarenga, Director of Director of Integration, Access, and Energy Security at the Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization, or LACDE, was not able to join us, but she provided the video.

Good morning, everyone. This is an honor to address this distinguished panel. Gender equality is not just a social dimension of energy policy, it is an essential enabling condition to sustainable development. As Latin America and the Caribbean rapidly advance in their energy transitions, gender must be deliberated, woven into the agenda. At OLACDE, we are taking responsibility to make this dimension visible, measurable, and actionable. Statistics play a fundamental role in this mission. What is not measured cannot be made visible, and what remains invisible is rarely transformed. Regional data shows a stark reality. While women represent nearly 45% of the research personnel in our region, they make less than 35% of the teams graduates and only 24% of energy workforce. Robust gender-disaggregated information is essential to identify and to close the gaps, the leadership, the employment, and the decision-making. With the strategic commitment of our 27 member countries, the LACDE is actively incorporating gender variables into a regional energy statistics, but data is not an end itself. It's tools of action. We can design training programs and inclusion policies and strategies or emerging green jobs. The gender gaps are not homogeneous. We understand that there are not many women who work in the sector, but their works and what barriers they face. Ultimately, no statistic systems can be built in insulation. Internal initiatives like ESMAP complement the regional efforts, but progress requires multi-stakeholders, active ministers and companies and academia and social civil society. Measuring this energy is not simply adding to the Coleman database. It just generates insights needed to build a more inclusive, effective, and sustainable energy future to our region. Thank you very much.

We are really grateful for both AFREC and OLACTE for have opened their data, data books, literally, together with, of course, the UN Statistics and other member countries, which has enabled us to really make some great progress over the last year. Now we would like to hear a little bit more from other stakeholders that— and focus on the global indicators framework and the steps needed to better support the gender aspect in SDG 7 monitoring and implementation. And who better to start with than Mr. Leonardo Sousa, who is the Chief of the Energy Statistics Section at the United Nations Statistics Division. Over to you, Leonardo. Thank you.

Thank you, Fanny. Um, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for inviting me. I'm going to talk— the guiding question is: what are the key gaps in the current global indicator framework on energy and gender, and what steps are needed to strengthen these indicators to better support SDG 7 monitoring and implementation? Well, we all know that SDG 7 doesn't have an explicit gender indicator, though some indirect and inferential results can be derived from the access data, particularly the clean cooking access data. But the two energy access indicators, access to electricity and access to clean cooking, are well suited for gender disaggregation. While we don't see any disaggregated results by. This is a key gap we have. As we saw in Sheila's presentation, the Working Group on Gender and Energy under the TAG updated its policy brief with a study of country cases. The key gaps in the current global indicator framework on energy and gender can be filled by the types of information being already compiled by countries, which the brief has identified as clustering around two themes. Gender disaggregated energy access, and economic opportunities in the energy sector. Now, the policy brief, as also Sheila also showed, reveals an astonishing situation. Countries do collect gender energy data, but they do not use it. There is little analyzing or high-level reporting on the findings of such data collections. And one of the possible causes as it was pointed out, is a lack of clarity due to missing standardized methodologies and definitions. Well, the UN is the place to develop such internationally agreed statistical standards through its Statistical Commission. The Commission has already mandated streamlining gender in all areas of statistics. So all areas doesn't exclude energy. So looking forward, the first step to eventually strengthen gender energy indicators is to form a task team under one of the Commission groups. The current working group under the TAG— I'm talking about this working group, not under the Commission— can serve as a backbone of this task team under the Commission. But the initiative must come from the countries from the member states, as UNSCEE only acts as a secretariat of the Commission, which is composed by countries. So, if step 1 is the creation of this test team, step 0 consists in mobilizing countries to actively participate in the process. Once a widely recognized methodology is developed through this test team, it will provide clarity for informing gender energy policies and thus attract political support. This will naturally bring it to the post-2030 conversation— can I say that, Minoru? Thank you— and will facilitate the adoption of a gender energy indicator by the post-SDG framework. Also, a Commission-endorsed methodology will enable UNST to carry out methodological training to countries. With all these in place, we'll be well positioned to advocate for specific indicators to inform the important topic of gender and energy.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Leonardo. Um, we are also joined by Ms. Antje Batt, a statistics specialist in the research and data section of UN Women. Please go ahead.

Okay, thank you so much. Hope you can hear me. Um, so I think we've said a lot about, um, the energy statistics. I'm not going to repeat any of the statistics that you all have highlighted. I just want to re-emphasize the, the fact that just what Leonardo said right now, there are indicators in SDG 7 that lend themselves to gender disaggregation, and we should take advantage of them. The clean cooking fuel indicator, we've all heard is one particular one, but also the electricity access indicator, which has large implications, as already has been said by many speakers, so not wanting to repeat anything. And particularly the point on barriers to leadership, we've heard a lot about that as well. Very critical for not just thinking of women as a vulnerable group, which is really not the framing we should think about. It's really half of humanity. That we're talking about there, but as really the powerful agents of change. So I think I'm going to focus a little bit on the next steps more than what the gaps are, since we've heard a lot about the gaps. So in terms of the work that the colleagues who've put together this event have done, that we have been doing every year for UN Women and UN SDGs Joint Gender Snapshot Report, as well as the SDG 7 Tracking Report, We've applied demographics to all of these indicators and have been repeatedly saying— one of the stats that we keep saying there is around 900 million women could lack access to clean cooking fuels and technologies by 2030 if current trends continue. We've also been saying that 320 million women could still lack access to electricity access by 2030 if current trends continue. Now, everything that we are saying in this is really based on demographics of how many women and girls live in households that lack access to electricity, lack access to clean cooking fuel. What we do not know, and which I think is a big suggestion, is to think about women who live in households that have access to electricity but cannot access it because they do not have the agency to, and they probably do not have the agency because they do not participate in the decision-making around resources, which is not just financial resources but every resource within the household. Again, these are not marginal findings. In the work that we've done on poverty and particularly poverty of lone mothers, we have found them to be a very significant group of women and girls who really are invisible in some sense because we think that when resources are available to the household, they're available to everyone. So just two small points before I end the intervention is I fully— UN Women fully supports publishing data already available, getting around standard ways to analyze the data. Data are not sparse— sorry, data are sparse but not zero, so that's great. But then again, we need to see what's the story behind the numbers that we see. We disaggregate statistics based on existing data, but the foundational methodological reform that is much needed that should be in the guiding principles principles of documents that the Statistical Commission also puts out is that intra-household decision-making and agency data are key. We cannot know or measure these dynamics with data that really just focuses on head of the household. So, um, last point is something that we didn't hear today that I'd like to say is about megatrends that will impact some of the existing data that we see. So we know that Gender inequalities, they do not just, you know, appear out of nowhere. These are pre-existing inequalities that are amplified when crises happen. So with the AI revolution coming through, there is going to be more and more demand for energy. Is this going to crowd out the much-needed investment for the last mile, and particularly for women and girls? I think we haven't touched upon this. We're still talking in the context of the current times, but it's really important. So I think these are the two additional reflections that I would like to offer from my side. Thank you very much for the floor.

Thank you so much, Antje, for this very interesting perspective and additional points that really need to be considered further. What we'll now do is we'll turn to hear from research institutes, civil society, and youth representative on how advocacy, evidence generation, and accountability can reinforce its usher. I'm very pleased to introduce Ms. Erin Tansy, Program Director for Sustainable Inclusive Economies at the International Development Research Centre, a Crown establishment of Canada. Please go ahead.

Thank you.

Okay, good.

Thank you.

Thanks so much. It's wonderful to be here and to see such a crowded room on a rainy Monday morning. So the International Development Research Centre, if you don't know us, we are a Canadian Crown Corporation, so we're part of the Government of Canada. We were created by an Act of Parliament in 1970, so we're a good 55, 56 years old. And we were created as the world's first institution dedicated to supporting and funding high-quality research led by low- and middle-income countries. So more than 50 years later, IDRC remains a unique and strategic element of Canada's international engagement. We know from experience that solutions work best when they're created by the people closest to the challenge. So this principle drives our work to generate evidence, strengthen institutions, and inform policies that improve lives. We invest in practical, locally led research to identify problems, develop solutions, and inform sound public policy. Our collaboration with AFREC, uh, to develop some guidelines for mainstreaming gender considerations into SDG 7 indicators in Africa is consistent with our resolve to supporting data and evidence leadership from the Global South to contribute to global debates like this one. Our collaboration is also consistent with our resolve to promote and support evidence-informed decision-making where gender equality, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability hold center stage. As IDRC, we see a lot of value in the work that AFREC is doing to ensure data consistency and comparability across Africa's energy sector. I'd also like just to make a bit of a plug for some of the work that IDRC has been doing on clean energy for development since 2022. We have an initiative at the moment across, I think, 17 countries, about a $20 million Canadian dollar investment, looking mainly at women-owned enterprises and their access to, as leaders in the clean energy space,— you know, what are the regulatory barriers, what are the financial barriers. So I encourage you to check out our website on that. So in closing, I would just like to commend ESMAP of the World Bank Group, ENERGIA, the Working Group on Gender Indicators and Sustainable Energy, and co-conveners of the Gender and Energy Compact for spearheading these important consultations, which we hope will put gender equality at the center of SDG discussions and related energy policy priorities. Thank you.

Thank you so much, uh, Aaron, for these interesting remarks. Let me now turn to Professor Ed Brown. Ed is the Professor of Global Energy Challenges and co-director, STEER, He's also research director of the Modern Energy Cooking Services, MECSS program. He's deputy program director of Climate Compatible Growth, and he's the national coordinator of the UK Low Carbon Energy for Development Network at Loughborough University in the UK. Over to you, Ed.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I think it must be something about British people. Thank you very much for the opportunity to say a few words this morning. I am the research director of Modern Energy Cooking and Services, which is a collaboration between Loughborough and ESMAP and CLASP. And I want to very quickly say 3 things, or talk about 3 initiatives. This morning that I think relate very well to this. The first is people rightly have focused on clean cooking as one of the major arenas where gender and energy are particularly important components. And I think this is for a variety of reasons that we've heard, so one of which is simply the fact that clean cooking has been so often relegated to a side issue rather being seen as absolutely central. And one of the main reasons is that because it mainly affects women. So I think that's a really important part of it. Secondly, I think also that relates to maybe the ways in which the issue has previously been treated, so that rather than focusing on what women really want, it's been a kind of focus on the bare minimum of the changes that can occur in women's lives. So certainly within MECS, one of the things we've tried to do is have a gendered perspective perspective to everything that we do on clean cooking, and we have developed this MEX gender framework that does just that. And it's certainly— that will be something we will bear in mind very centrally in the work we're doing with AFREC going forward on the clean cooking roadmap for the continent, which we're currently embarking upon. Secondly is that we also were involved in producing one of the briefing papers that's been published this week as part of the 2026 process. And in this case, it was a briefing looking at the relationship between SDG 7 and SDG 10, which, as we all know, is the SDG on inequality. And what we tried to do on a piece that we did with the Access Coalition, which Sheila is also heavily involved in, is to conceive of energy access as a right, and therefore when you look at it as a right, I think it raises many of the issues that we've looked at today in terms of understanding who it is that lacks access to energy and to clean cooking specifically within that, and therefore women are often those that are lacking access, so therefore we can see the connection across all of this. What we try to do is look at some very concrete actions that that we could be taking to ensure that inequality is more centered within analyses of energy, and that relates to the visibility of those that lack access. It relates to the fact that often subnational action can more effectively target inequality, looking at issues like minimum energy access, targeting specific groups that would have been noted through the, the lack of previous visibility, but also raising the importance of tackling inequality at the global as well as the national scale. And then finally, again, we're nodding to, to Minoru, also thinking around we are still going to be here after 2030. I can say that as an academic around here that many of you can't, and therefore we need to think very seriously very seriously about what we are going to be looking at post-2030 in the energy architecture, and we are this week launching a briefing note around what issues that process needs to focus on. And two of the issues I think that are central to that paper have been talked about quite a lot here, which is around a focus going forward on the quality of access rather than a— by a— a dualistic yes you have, no you haven't type of approach. And secondly, on the sustainability and security of access going forward. So thank you very much for allowing me to have a few contributions today.

Thank you so much, Professor. Well, our session would not be complete without hearing from young voices. I'm pleased to introduce Mr. Josh Oxbey, Global Focal Point for the SDG 7 Youth Constituency. Agency. Over to you, Josh.

Thank you, Chair. Um, yeah, let me start by saying that I think data can sound really technical, um, it can sound neutral, and it can sound administrative. But in the context of energy, as we've all heard today, data decides who is visible, who's protected, and who's still left out systems altogether. When we talk about moving from a 'call to count' sort of as the framing of the session is today, I think we have to push this narrative one step further because gender-disaggregated energy data isn't only a reporting issue, it's a question of power. Power in the household, power in policy, and ultimately power in deciding what the energy transition is actually for. I think that's why this HLPF can't just be treated as as another progress check. So we know it's the final one before 2030. But at this stage, the numbers are not only telling us whether SDG 7 is moving, they're exposing what the framework still struggles to see. Because 4 years out from 2030, the uncomfortable truth is that some gaps aren't moving, they're concentrating. Some inequalities aren't being solved, they're being hidden behind averages. And from a youth perspective, that's the real test for what comes next. Not only what the SDGs delivered, but whether the future development goals will be brave enough to measure what the SDGs left behind. Which is why I want to kind of highlight 3 points from our global youth perspective on how gender-disaggregated data can move from visibility to delivery. First, Gender energy data can help us move from access to agency. We've all heard this here today. A household connection doesn't tell us who controls the energy use inside of a home. Clean cooking statistics don't tell us whether women and girls have gained time, safety, health, and income. And electricity access figures don't tell us whether energy is affordable, reliable, meaningful, or useful enough to support learning, enterprise, and decent work. That's one of the real use cases of gender data that I see, helping us to see whether energy access is becoming empowerment or whether we're simply just electrifying inequality. My second point: gender and youth data must connect skills to real jobs. One of the reflections I've just taken away from London Climate Action Week just there is that we're seeing that the energy transition is increasingly being directed by the systems around energy: finance, skills, infrastructure, labor market statistics. Gender-disaggregated data then can't simply sit at the edge of energy conversations. It has to cut through all of those systems. It should shape where finance goes, how projects are designed, who gets trained, who moves from informal community energy work into decent work, because future jobs are already being promised. But without that data, we simply can't tell whether those jobs are going to become pathways for young women and girls or another closed door with a better branding. My third point is that youth organizations, women's groups, and academia can really help turn data into accountability. We can help show that what national averages miss— who pays for energy, who loses time when it fails, and who's still invisible. In the data. That evidence has to move into national energy plans, project design, procurement rules, and sort of this post-2030 framework narrative that we're all pushing here today. Because if what gets financed actually gets done, then what gets measured shapes what gets financed. And that for me is the real challenge in the final 4 years to 2030 and for the future development goals that come after it. Gender disaggregated data can't sit at the margins of SDG 7 as a technical add-on. It has to become a part of how we understand whether energy access is actually delivering agency, affordability, productive youth use, decent work and leadership. And for young people, that distinction really matters because visibility isn't the same as a voice. Participation isn't the same as power. And inclusion isn't the same as accountability. So as we move from the SDGs to the FTGs, the next generation of energy policy really has to tell the truth about delivery. Who benefits? Who's left out? Who carries the burden and what needs to change? Not just counting women and young people in the transition, but making it near impossible to design, finance, or report on the future of the transition without them. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Let me turn now to Ms. Rosemary Idem. She's a program manager, women and youth, at the forefront at Sea for All, which is one of our, you know, partners also on Missions 300.

Thank you, Afani, and Excellencies. Thanks for the privilege to speak here today. My name is Rosemary Dema, and I work with Sustainable Energy for All. I just wanted to make a few points building on what all the amazing speakers have spoken here today. SE4ALL sits in the intersection of energy, climate, and development, and one of the key priorities of our work is centering people within SDG 7. As you know, as all speakers have mentioned here today, energy is a foundational system. It shapes who benefits from what and the quality of services they receive. So it goes to say that the policies, the system should reflect all users. And energy is also a key system that unlocks opportunities, growth, and ending energy poverty. And as one of the speakers spoke today, it's not just a duality. Our approach to the energy transition looks at the transition as a whole economy, from a whole economic perspective, looking at how energy intersects with different sectors, how people use energy, and how energy can create pathways for people to come out of energy poverty. So it's— I wanted to shine a light on that nuance that energy— for us to be able to utilize this data, energy should not just be looked at from the perspective of who is connected. And I know even from the annual tracking of energy access, we've seen how climate shocks, population growth have impacted the numbers as we have tried to close the energy access gap. So it's also useful to see how we can ensure that the methodology going forward should capture all the sectors, looking at how access to energy in the health sector impacts women, looking at how it shapes education and access to education for both— for everybody, looking at how even other key sectors within the energy— SDG 7, like energy efficiency and cooling, how this impacts women and other users in different ways. That gives us lays the foundation to utilize the data in a way that we can design policies, initiatives that can ensure that we don't— women are not falling through the cracks in some certain areas as we build the sector going forward.

Thank you so very much. Thank you all for your commitment and partnership on this agenda. I think we have learned a lot And who better to close the session and help us frame the way forward? I'd like to invite Mr. Minoru Takada, who is the Deputy Director in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the head of the Secretariat of UN Energy. Minoru has been a thought leader and strong champion of this initiative from the very start. Over to you, Minoru.

Thank you very much, Frannie, and distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. It's a very pleasure to be joining this discussion, and then we have been having this discussion more than several years. See that?

Yes.

And so I think, you know, all the— you all have content and an intent So I think we together need to work and deliver together. I think this is what is in front of us. The 3 points here. So when we say HLPF is reviewing SDGs, right, I don't know whether you really look at the program. Tomorrow there's going to be a start of that. So it says review of SDG, let's say SDG 7, that's afternoon tomorrow. Tomorrow and Interlinkages with Other SDGs. So that's the official title of the program. It's not just reviewing SDG 7 or SDG 6 for that matter, those things. So in other words, what you are talking about here actually already has a space to advocate. So let's not wait until something— some other things happen. We have been talking about this one and then in other words, This interlinkages part, indivisible nature of SDGs, I think we said it and the member states enshrined it, but I think this is a work in progress agenda for everybody. I think this is one thing that we really have to not only speak up, but also start doing something about it. This group has shown that we are actually doing it. Yet, but we have to do far more. I think next couple of years, or up to 2030, we do have political space to be able to do so, so please do not hesitate to bring that issue up, up, up, and more. Second, in a year's time, so there's going to be an SDG summit to come next year at the GA in September, and prior to that there's going to be another HLPF concentrated come, and the member states would have to decide what to do beyond 2030. That's in the pact for the future documents, so this is the fact that member states cannot run away from it. It's not DESA, by the way. Yes, so it's obvious that people are talking about it, people have some ideas, so I really think that people who who have some ideas, who have experiences, we should do it. And this is important. It's not every year that we have this opportunity. In the case of this development framework, globally, every 10 years, every 15 years, or every 20 years, who knows? So we'll be entering into this on a very special period where the like-minded have some opportunity to contribute.

Globally.

And then I think here, sitting in front of this, you know, all the— this, this issue, we have responsibility to contribute, share our ideas, experiences. So I think, you know, I'm not sort of stopping Ed from sharing any ideas, you know, on those things. It's just that I don't own it, but it's Ed who owns it. But I think that we should all do this one. We should all do this. On the next year, there's going to be a discussion about the process. After this, there's going to be a very serious discussion to come. We want a sustainable development framework to be as strong as it could be, of course much stronger than 2030 Agenda, and I'm actually looking at the delegates here to make sure those things are going to be happening on that one. But thirdly, looking back a little bit and then connecting to the future, Sriram and I have been observing this one since the days of the Commission on Sustainable Development and come to the MDGs and the SDGs. Here you are, we are talking about and beyond the SDGs. I can't believe that we are spending so much time on this one, these things here. It's very important that, you know, of course, in parallel to, you know, supporting this big discussion globally to actually write some document and frame framework, but we also have some way to drive things forward, anticipating that there is going to be some decisions to come. So if you try to do it in sequence, right, okay, let's wait for decision to come and think about how to do it, then already you'll be 5 years behind. So I think here the opportunity we have is not only do we contribute and contribute really seriously to the sustainable development framework discussion to come, but also think about what if then we have framework in some way, how do we make sure that immediately after the framework is established, day one, we are already on the ground and start delivering. I think this is going to be the most important part in my view. And this is not only the responsibility of member states. I would say this is really a collective responsibility of all the stakeholders who are involved in, who care about development, prosperity, of course human rights and inequality and those things. And here then gender could not be more central, right? I mean, and we all know that. So let's not just put only gender on paper, but of course, you know, when we think about doing something, delivering something, we'll be sure to have mechanism to put this one at the center of our action. If we can do that, all those things, next couple of years, wow, this group would have transformed the world. And then I'm sure this is going to come. Thank you very much, Fanny. I appreciate it very much.