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Fiji holds Consultation on review of the National Energy Policy and development of its SDG 7 Roadmap

2nd December 2020 – Fiji’s Department of Energy (DoE), under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Meteorological Services, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), today organized a one-day “National Consultation Workshop on the Development of an SDG7 Roadmap for Fiji and the Review of Fiji’s National Energy Policy (NEP)”. The workshop was attended by over 70 stakeholders from the energy sector, government, private-sector, development organizations, and NGOs and energy sector beneficiaries.

The Department of Energy is leading the effort to develop a new National Energy Policy (NEP) that will guide the country’s energy sector related interventions through to 2030 and support a climate resilient, low carbon energy sector.

The workshop reported on and provided an analysis of the stakeholder consultations that were conducted between July and September with the support of GGGI to identify and detail the key gaps and challenges that exist within the current NEP and what the priorities and opportunities for consideration into the new NEP are. The workshop was also an opportunity to present the findings and scenario results of the draft SDG7 Roadmap that was developed following a comprehensive collection of energy sector data and analysis carried out by UNESCAP using the National Expert SDG Tool for Energy Planning (NEXTSTEP) tool.

In his keynote speech, , Mr. Taitusi Vakadravuyaca (Permanent Secretary for Infrastructure & Meteorological Services ) said, “Sustainable energy use lies at the core of any development plans in any country including Fiji. Our commitments to develop our local renewable energy resources, reduce our carbon emissions and to put in place a climate-resilient power sector infrastructure have been embedded in most of our planning documents and policies. We need a holistic and concerted approach from all stakeholders and to ensure that our sub-sector policies are aligned in order to achieve and realize these targets”.   

In his opening remarks, Mr. Hongpeng Liu (Director, Energy Division, ESCAP) expressed “ESCAP is delighted to see that the work on the development of the National Energy Policy is progressing in parallel with the SDG 7 roadmap development, and the findings of SDG7 scenarios are informing the targets and direction of the NEP.”

Fiji’s SDG 7 Roadmap and the review of the National Energy Policy (NEP) are expected to be finalized by January 2021. Both outputs will inform the development of the new NEP 2020-2030, which is being supported by the Government of New Zealand and is targeted for completion by mid-2021.