Date: Thursday, 9 July 2026
Time: 13:15-14:30 EDT
Location: HQ, CR-1, New York
HLPF 2026 Side Event | Organized by UNEP & IRENA
About the Event
This side event taking place during the High-Level Political Forum 2026 focuses on a critical but often overlooked aspect of achieving SDG7 (affordable and clean energy): the role of electricity system design, especially demand-side flexibility and grid readiness, in enabling a successful energy transition.
While past efforts have largely emphasized expanding renewable energy and improving access, the description argues that the next challenge is ensuring power systems can actually integrate large and growing volumes of renewables while meeting rising demand from sectors like transport, buildings, cooling, industry, and digital infrastructure. It highlights that grid constraints are already causing major delays, with an estimated 2,500 GW of projects stalled globally.
A central solution proposed is demand-side flexibility, which allows electricity users (including buildings, devices, electric vehicles, and storage systems) to adjust when and how they use electricity. This can reduce costs, improve reliability, ease pressure on grids, and accelerate renewable integration, but it is not yet well integrated into SDG7 policy discussions or monitoring frameworks.
The side event aims to address this gap by:
- Bringing grid integration and demand flexibility into the SDG7 policy conversation
- Strengthening links with SDG9 (infrastructure and innovation), and also SDG11 (cities/buildings) and SDG17 (partnerships)
- Shifting attention from energy targets alone to system readiness and real-world implementation
- Contributing to broader thinking about the post-2030 development and energy agenda
Overall, the message is that achieving clean energy goals is no longer just about building more renewables. It depends on modern, flexible, and digitally enabled power systems that can reliably manage them at scale.
If you have any questions or would like more information about the event, please contact lily.riahi@un.org.
