ICT can help to achieve UN SDG 7

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has the ability to play an important role in transforming initiatives.

The greatest threat for the underdeveloped nations is the use of fossil fuel which leads to greenhouse gas emissions. The GDP of some countries are very low such as Niger(USD 1107 per capita), Liberia (USD 855 per capita), and Central African Republic (USD 652 per capita), as per world atlas. The population of such countries has become vulnerable as they are either extremely poor and limited by expensive energy.

The year 2015 was marked as significant with regards to United Nation's adoption of Sustainable Development Goals which includes a specific goal on energy (SDG 7) aiming to ensure access to sustainable, modern, affordable and reliable energy for all. SDG 7 also addresses the energy efficiency promotion and need to increase the energy production from renewable sources.

SDG 7 encompasses renewable energy growth, universal energy access, energy efficiency improvements under 7.1 to 7.3, and international cooperation in sustainable energy infrastructure development and technology upgrades and expansion of energy systems under 7.a and 7.b.

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These goals are interlinked as lower price of renewable energy can provide access to energy services which will lead to energy efficiency and will boost the value of service.

SDG 7 comes at a time when more than one billion people worldwide do not have access to electricity and about 85 per cent of global energy comes from non-renewable sources, as per Africa Policy Review. Traditional electricity grid invites high investment when seeing resources available in the poorest countries.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has the ability to play an important role in transforming initiatives, the inclusion of such technology in energy systems enables control and management of work, and improved monitoring.

ICT facilitates smart meters and mobile payments to reduce operating costs for providers and receivers, this technology ultimately helps in data analytics and storage management. Deeper penetration of renewables would be impossible without having ICT and if seen from demand and supply ICT can be cost-effective.

ICT's role has been seen all over the world in the modernization of grids which help to increase grid efficiency and the integration of renewable energy resources.

In a nutshell, ICT can increase efficiency through smart appliances, manufacturing, and infrastructure along with contributing to higher resource utilization through a shared system.

To fully utilize ICT some steps are required, such as:

• Entrepreneurship promotion- There is a need to bring ICT access to entrepreneurs which can boost development of mini-grid enterprises. A separate framework is needed to enable cashless payments to reduce several problems in cash transaction.
• Compromising to create a better environment- For renewable energy generation, the fixed tariff on electricity have created several hindrances for mini-grids that are not able to receive these subsidies an overall strategy is needed to counter this problem through ICT
• Encouraging education institutes to involve ICT training- A wide range of companies in the renewable energy sector is requiring employees with ICT skills as these people are involved in the system with which energy professionals are working.

ICT can accelerate the challenging but achievable goal to reach SDG 7.