Household Solar Funders Group

UN General Assembly (UNGA) 2023
2023-09-19 - 2023-09-26 | United Nations, United Nations Headquarters, New York, United States
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) is the main policy-making organ of the Organization. Comprising all Member States, it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations. Each of the 193 Member States of the United Nations has an equal vote.
The UNGA also makes key decisions for the UN, including:

appointing the Secretary-General on the recommendation of the Security Council
electing the non-permanent members of the Security Council
approving the UN budget

The Assembly meets in regular sessions from September to December each year, and thereafter as required. It discusses specific issues through dedicated agenda items or sub-items, which lead to the adoption of resolutions.
Sitting arrangements in the General Assembly Hall change for each session. During the 78th Session (2023-2024), North Macedonia will occupy the first seat in the Hall, including in the Main Committees (followed by all the other countries, in English alphabetical order).

HSFG plenary
2023-09-14 15:00 - 16:30 (Africa/Johannesburg) | virtual
Plenary meeting of the Household Solar Funders Group

Ensuring clean energy transition in Africa with DRE and impact on SDG7
2023-09-14 14:00 - 15:30 (Europe/Brussels) | virtual
Decentralised renewable energy (DRE) as a solution has been at the forefront of this PWCET series whereby ARE and GBE strongly advocate for the application and implementation of DRE technologies in order to bring access to power as well as enhance the existing grid in sub-Saharan Africa.
This ambition is on track to achieve a clean energy transition with a community-centric approach where the local citizens take interest and part in their energy demand and supply infrastructures.
For the final webinar of their renowned PWCET series, ARE and GBE will engage the DRE sector experts to discuss the status of SDG 7 today and how it is contributing to the overall energy transition, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Summary of the Renewables 2023 Global Status Report
2023-09-13 12:30 - 14:00 (Europe/Brussels) | virtual
REN21 and the Climate Action Network-International (CAN) are organising a webinar to discuss the findings of the Renewables Global Status Report (GSR) series in the current geopolitical context and the direction of travel needed to achieve the shift to a renewable-based system. They will delve into the political impact of G20 decisions on renewable energy discussions during COP and other policy moments.
The discussion will be led by REN21 Executive Director Rana Adib and moderated by CAN's Senior Climate Science and Global Energy Policy Advisor Stephan Singer. It will be followed by a panel discussion with key speakers (to be announced soon).

Demand-side Subsidies for Energy Access Webinar
2023-09-12 08:00 - 09:30 (America/New_York) | virtual
Targeting: Designing subsidies to prioritize the most vulnerable
The End User Subsidy Lab (EUSL), a joint initiative among partners ESMAP/Lighting Global, GOGLA, Energising Development (EnDev), and the Clean Cook Alliance (CCA), is a platform for pooling knowledge, technical expertise, and funding for demand-side subsidies (DSS). This webinar series organized by the EUSL will guide us through the key elements of designing demand-side subsidies programmes to facilitate the implementation of overarching energy access strategies. Each webinar will be 75 minutes with the main objective to support in-depth dialogue and discussion around lessons learned, challenges, and ‘how to’.
The first webinar focuses on how to identify people facing an affordability gap in order to effectively target subsidies for them. Key questions to be discussed include: How do we minimize the leakage of subsidies to people that can afford commercial prices? What are the best data sources for targeting DSS? What are the limitations of different targeting approaches? When is it okay to have untargeted subsidies? What are the risks of untargeted subsidies and how can they be mitigated? This webinar, moderated by ESMAP/Lighting Global, will provide an overview of different targeting approaches (economic, geographic, demographic, etc), and will showcase the experience of relevant practitioners. Guest speakers include:

EnDev, discussing experience in Malawi of leveraging the government’s social cash transfer system
Government of Nepal, represented by the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AECP), discussing their decade of experience targeting energy subsidies, and in particular, targeting vulnerable demographics
UC Berkeley, presenting research and application of artificial intelligence (AI) to identify most vulnerable populations in Togo under a social assistance program implemented in partnership between the World Bank and the Government of Togo

Africa Climate Week (ACW 2023)
2023-09-04 - 2023-09-06 | KICC, Harambee Avenue Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
The Africa Climate Week (ACW 2023) is one of four Regional Climate Weeks held this year to build momentum ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference COP 28 in Dubai and the conclusion of the first global stocktake, designed to chart the way for fulfilling the Paris Agreement's key goals.
Hosted by the government of Kenya, ACW 2023 will be organised in parallel with the African Climate Action Summit (4-6 September), also hosted by Kenya.
