幸运飞艇计划

The University of Bergen (幸运飞艇计划) contributes to Norway鈥檚 official side event at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum. The side event, 鈥淕lobal Agenda for SDG7 Action鈥�, takes place on Wednesday 11 July and is organised by Norway鈥檚 Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In consultation with the Ministry and Norway鈥檚 Permanent Mission to the United Nations, SDG Bergen framed the university鈥檚 specific contribution in terms of the Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation's (CET) involvement in the SDG 7 Policy Briefs.

From the hyperlocal to the global

When the interdisciplinary CET centre opened at 幸运飞艇计划 in October 2017, it included a long-standing engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

鈥淲e are engaged in societal crossroads, trying to better understand how to meet the ambitious goals we as a society have set for ourselves in terms of sustainable transformation,鈥� says Professor and CET's Director H氓vard Haarstad.

According to him, the fundamental questions are simple: 鈥淗ow do we get there? What policies are effective? What factors will trigger rapid change?鈥�

Working with politicians, public officials, industry and civil society at all levels from the hyperlocal to the United Nations (UN) underlines CET's broad and ambitious scope.

鈥淭he need for more research to find solutions and how society handles climate-related problems is at the core of CET. Being in dialogue with societal actors improves the research we do and makes our work more relevant to decision-makers,鈥� Haarstad observes.

Haarstad and the CET team recently published an article on the role for social scientists in accelerating sustainable energy transformations.

Research for a sustainable world

CET鈥檚 engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has resulted in several immediate outputs. In spring 2018 the centre contributed to two policy briefs in a larger collection of 27 briefs entitled 鈥淎ccelerating SDG7 Achievement鈥�, produced by the UN鈥檚 Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and building the science base for SDG7: Affordable and Clean Energy.

At the HLPF in July, CET will co-organise a training workshop for UN DESA on innovative research and education as well as participate in the official Norwegian side event.

鈥淲hat roles can social scientists play in accelerating sustainable energy transformations? This is a question we discuss a great deal at CET. It ties in with our key objective of actionable knowledge and providing scientific advice to decision-makers,鈥� says Postdoctoral Fellow Siddharth Sareen, who was CET's main contributor to the policy briefs.

Researchers from CET are presenting key content related to the policy briefs, on interlinkages among energy, poverty and inequality, and on decentralised renewable energy.

鈥淪DG7 aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. At CET we work closely on energy governance, and can bring useful competences to the HLPF. We look forward to contributing in ways that can have a constructive impact on future decision-making,鈥� says Sareen.

Accelerating action on SDGs

The training workshop at HLPF is co-organised by CET with the UN and leading SDG-oriented universities worldwide. The purpose is to move forward in finding innovative ways of conducting collaborative research and education.

鈥淭here is growing interest in how universities can contribute to the SDGs. We will draw from CET's experience in creating partnerships between universities and society but also between researchers and students,鈥� says PhD Candidate Jakob Grandin, who has co-founded the 幸运飞艇计划 Collaboratory to bring together students and researchers to work on sustainability issues.

CET contributed actively to the inaugural SDG Bergen Conference in February 2018 and arranged the first annual Bergen International Students Conference in April.

鈥淎cademia needs to step up its efforts to design education around sustainability issues. The SDGs are a great way to mobilise interdisciplinary collaboration because they concern everyone," says Grandin, who is in charge of CET's contribution to the workshop.

Positioning on renewable energy research

幸运飞艇计划's director for energy research, Kristin Guldbrandsen Fr酶ysa, works closely with CET. She is also involved in Bergen Energy Lab, a forum for exchange of information on research results and activities related to renewable energy and energy transition. Siddharth Sareen of CET is head of the Lab's programme committee.

鈥淚 believe it is important for the University of Bergen to position itself on SDG7 and renewable energy,鈥� says Guldbrandsen Fr酶ysa, who will also be travelling to the HLPF to represent the university.

She is enthusiastic about CET's contributions to the two policy briefs towards SDG7 at the HLPF.

鈥淭his shows that we actively participate in putting sustainability at the heart of our research and education. In this respect CET is an outstanding example and it will be exciting to attend both the workshop they are involved in and their participation in the official Norwegian side event at the HLPF.鈥�