IEA Releases Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2026
The International Energy Agency (IEA) released Tracking SDG 7 : The Energy Progress Report 2026, assessing global progress on June 24 toward Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7): Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
The report finds that significant progress has been made in expanding renewable energy deployment, improving energy efficiency, and increasing access to electricity and clean cooking. However, uneven regional development, affordability constraints, imbalanced international public finance, and escalating geopolitical and economic risks continue to threaten the achievement of SDG 7 by 2030.
Key Findings
1. Global Electricity Access Continues to Improve, but Universal Electrification Remains Off Track
Global electricity access reached 92% in 2024. The number of people without electricity declined from 958 million in 2015 to 655 million.
Despite this progress, the current pace of electrification remains insufficient to achieve universal access by 2030. According to the report, the annual rate of improvement must increase to more than three times the current level.
Regional disparities remain pronounced. Approximately 86% of the global population lacking electricity access resides in Sub-Saharan Africa, making the region the principal barrier to achieving universal electrification.
Affordability has emerged as a critical constraint. Only 22% of households without electricity are estimated to be able to afford basic electricity services.
2. Access to Clean Cooking Improves, but Regional and Rural Disparities Persist
Global access to clean cooking reached 75% in 2024. Nevertheless, approximately 2 billion people still rely on polluting fuels and inefficient cooking technologies, including 1.5 billion rural residents.
Asia recorded substantial progress, with China, India, and Indonesia contributing the majority of the global reduction in the clean cooking access gap.
In contrast, the number of people without access to clean cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa increased to approximately 970 million and is projected to reach 1 billion by 2027.
The report also notes that clean cooking needs within public institutions and among displaced populations remain significantly underserved.
3. Renewable Energy Deployment Accelerates, While Progress in Heating and Transport Remains Limited
Renewable energy accounted for 18.0% of global total final energy consumption in 2023 and supplied more than 30% of global electricity generation.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power remained the primary drivers of new capacity additions, while hydropower continued to be the world’s largest renewable source of electricity generation.
However, renewable energy penetration remains relatively low in end-use sectors beyond electricity. In particular, renewables represented only 4.3% of final energy consumption in the transport sector.
Among the world’s twenty largest energy-consuming countries, China accounted for more than 20% of global renewable energy utilization.
Although global per capita renewable power capacity continued to increase, significant disparities persist across income groups. In 2024, per capita installed renewable energy capacity reached 1,224 W in high-income countries, compared with only 33.6 W in low-income countries.
4. Global Energy Efficiency Improvement Slows Further
Global primary energy intensity declined to 3.76 MJ per USD in 2023, while the annual rate of energy intensity improvement fell from 2.4% in 2022 to 1.5%.
To achieve international energy efficiency objectives, the average annual improvement in global energy intensity must reach approximately 4.2% during 2024–2030.
However, none of the major world regions achieved even the interim benchmark of 2.6% annual improvement over the 2010–2023 period.
Progress in the industrial sector has slowed, while substantially stronger improvements are still required in both the building and transport sectors.
5. International Public Finance for Clean Energy Increases Marginally but Remains Unevenly Distributed
International public finance supporting clean energy deployment in developing economies increased slightly to USD 24.6 billion in 2024, representing an increase of USD 200 million compared with the previous year.
Nevertheless, financing remains concentrated in a limited number of recipient countries. India, Türkiye, and Argentina received the largest shares, while 80% of committed funding was allocated to only 32 countries.
Financial support for the least developed countries (LDCs) declined by 11%, falling to USD 3.7 billion. Commitments to Sub-Saharan Africa decreased from USD 7.2 billion to approximately USD 5.0 billion.
Loans continue to dominate international public finance, whereas concessional financing, grants, equity investment, and risk-mitigation instruments remain insufficient.
Outlook
The report concludes that while global progress toward SDG 7 has accelerated in several areas—including renewable energy deployment, electricity access, and clean cooking—current trends remain inadequate to achieve universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030.
Accelerated investment, stronger policy implementation, enhanced energy affordability, improved energy efficiency, and a more balanced allocation of international public finance will be essential to closing regional development gaps and achieving the SDG 7 targets within the remaining implementation period.
Source：
[1] https://www.iea.org/reports/tracking-sdg7-the-energy-progress-report-2026
[2] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/i92VwAjLQ7IilqnbKLG4uQ