Despite progress, there are still more than 700 million people globally without access to electricity and a further 2.4 billion who must rely on burning harmful fuels for cooking. At current rates of progress, the percentage of those living without power is set to fall by just 7% by 2030. In short, the world is not on track to achieve SDG 7: ‘Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all’. What is more, stalling progress on SDG 7 hinders a wide range of other development factors – unelectrified medical facilities put lives at risk, children have fewer hours of light for study, and entrepreneurs can’t make use of competitive technology.
Powering the sustainable future the world needs calls for greater investment from governments and businesses and CEZ Group is committed to helping make this future a reality. CEZ Group’s vision is to introduce innovations for addressing energy needs, contributing to greater quality of life. That’s why we’re teaming up with One Young World to launch this Lead2030 Challenge for SDG 7.
This challenge aims to identify and support youth-led enterprises that are tackling the energy divide in the worst-affected countries and regions. We welcome solutions from young innovators that:
Provide affordable energy to communities with limited access.
Address the negative consequences of lack of energy access. Relevant examples could include:
Providing sanitation services that are suitable for energy-poor areas.
Food or medicine cooling solutions that can be effective off-grid communities. Ensuring children with limited access to electricity receive a quality education.
Providing clean alternative cooking fuels.
Challenge Criteria
Aligned: Evidently aligned with the SDG7 challenge. See.
Youth-led: Founded by a person aged 18 – 30.
Focused: Well-structured time horizon identified key stakeholders and beneficiaries, and proposed outcomes that are reasonable and well thought out.
Proven: The solution is readily available, being piloted, implemented, or scaled
Impactful: Solutions must have a positive social impact, for example, generating educational outcomes, employment opportunities, or developing skills.
Measurable: The solution’s impact on society must be adequately measured and/or measurable.
Financially viable: Must be able to achieve efficiency and to survive independently through the resources they generate and/or the investments and donations they attract.
Scalable: Potential to grow impact after expanding in scope or size and/or into other regions.
Benefits
The winning solution will receive:
Sponsorship to participate in the One Young World Summit 2023.
A US$50,000 grant from CEZ Group.
12 months of mentorship from a team of CEZ Group professionals. The mentorship team will work to accelerate your solution based on the needs of your initiative or organization.
