Event co-chair opening the symposium
Building a just, safe, sustainable and accessible energy system can address a trilemma of problems: from improving energy security, resolving energy poverty, and addressing mounting sustainability concerns. This transition must be backed by effective governance, circular innovation, incorporating community voices and much more. This is why the energy transition requires us to think differently and systemically to ensure sustainable systems transformation.
Access to clean and reliable energy for all is pivotal to the realisation of many global developmental targets. Climate change mitigation, poverty reduction, access to education, and healthcare are only some of many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) whose attainment is dependent on improved access to cleaner energy.
However, recent reports show that the world is still off-track to meeting SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy). In 2022, more than 685 million people globally had no access to electricity and a further 2.1 billion did not have access to clean cooking solutions. And even where energy is available, many of the world’s energy systems are often unreliable and inefficient: for example, Colombia faces economic losses of up to $11 billion annually from poor energy efficiency alone. At the same time, climate change-induced drought is threatening the stable supply of hydro-generated energy, risking energy security for the country.
These cross-cutting challenges – from energy access to clean cooking to economic growth and more – require holistic solutions built with a systems approach in mind. Therefore, as governments and decision makers seek to transition to clean energy inclusively and sustainably in their countries, they must identify levers to intervene – from policy to innovation and sustainability.
Participants collaborating in a group activity during the symposium
Powering the just energy transition
In April, I was the event co-chair for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers symposium, in partnership with Engineering X and the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia. The symposium focused on ways to achieve a just energy transition through systems approaches. It brought together people from different disciplines, as well as integrated systems practitioners, to push us to think differently about the challenge of energy access. The event used diverse systems methods to help drive the transition to sustainable, equitable energy across the globe.
Several takeaways from the discussions stood out to me as key insights in addressing the energy trilemma and paving a way forward in just energy transitions.
Embracing systems approaches for improved stakeholder and community engagement
Though energy systems are highly complex, understanding the different parts that make up the system is an important starting point. As my event co-chair Professor Yasmin Merali noted, looking in-depth at the elements of a system, such as the stakeholders involved, their experiences, perspectives and existing opportunities for change, can set the foundation for successful and inclusive transformations. For example, including communities is pivotal in energy transition projects. Building trust with them and ensuring they benefit from a project, therefore, is essential in ensuring success: it is the community that is interacting with, maintaining, and relying on a solution long-term.
Experiences from an energy project in Peru shared by Andres Bustamante illustrated this interconnectedness. By employing a systems approach that prioritised active community engagement and trust building, Andres and his team were able to install a hybrid microgrid energy system in Nazca, Peru. Despite complexities that included low literacy rates, community conflicts, and clashing stakeholder interests, the completion of this project marked the end of 80 years without stable access to energy for the community.
Exploring new governance models
Facilitating a just energy transition also requires more exploration of innovative governance models. Establishing a focused ‘moonshot’ mission can address inequalities and improve coordination between stakeholders towards realising a shared goal.
For instance, Stella Leone Deppe introduced mission-oriented innovation (MOI), a transformative approach for policymakers. It takes into consideration diverse forms of innovation and coordinates policy and regulatory measures that are key to mobilising action. It considers that governments are often siloed in their work, but facilitating an energy transition requires coordination from many different ministries, from energy to environment, economy, and more. MOI brings all these different actors onto the same page, allowing governments to advance energy transitions inclusively and cross-sectorally, ensuring sustainability in the long run.
Sustainable end-of-life management for new technologies
As countries shift towards renewable energy, the demand for already limited resources steadily grows. To ensure that renewable energy systems do not create ulterior sustainability issues, innovators must consider the full lifespan of technologies. Considerations for circularity, as shared by Alejandra Tabares Pozos, include a focus on renewable sources of materials, stretching the lifetime of technologies, re-using waste as a resource, designing with the future in mind, and more.
Taking a true systems approach, Alejandra underlined the need for economic and policy frameworks that can ensure the success of circular systems. This can, for instance, level the playing field through policies that incentivise using circular practices over those that are wasteful and extractive. A key challenge for us all as we try to avert current hardships like lack of energy access, is how do we innovate in a way that is sustainable in the long term?
Dynamic interaction among participants using a systems tool
Looking to the future
As the symposium came to a close, participants collaborated in outlining short-, medium- and long-term goals towards systems changes in energy transitions globally.
With a focus on the next five years, participants identified short-term goals that include improving community engagement, strengthening innovation networks, advancing systems thinking, and developing new tools for sustainable energy systems. In the mid-term, within the next ten years, participants noted improving energy regulation, adopting sustainable technologies, enhancing South-South collaboration, and advancing transparency in the energy value chain as important. Looking further into the future, long-term goals identified included concretising policy and structures for sustainable energy use, continuing to drive innovation, and ensuring inclusivity.
Advancing sustainable energy transitions
To support efforts to achieve these aims, Engineering X has awarded seed funding to five projects that have grown out of the symposium. These exciting projects aim to tackle some of the prevailing problems in energy systems at the local level, working with communities to build resilience in a number of ways.
Furthermore, these projects introduce systems approaches in innovative ways: to mining communities in La Guajira, Colombia to support a just energy transition in the region, to identify gaps in the lifecycle management of electric vehicles in Nepal, to facilitate collaboration with local communities and policymakers for clean cooking solutions, and more. This funding is dedicated to promoting the increased use of systems approaches in the transition to clean, equitable energy systems.
From effective governance to mission-oriented innovation and sustainable end-of-life management for new technologies, systems approaches can facilitate energy transitions across the world while ensuring inclusivity, safety, and sustainability.
You can read more about the outcomes of the symposium in our Colombia 2024 report, and watch related videos on a just energy transition and systems approaches as well.
This event was funded by Engineering X, founded the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd’s Register Foundation, as part of its Safer Complex Systems programme.