SCI Joins EnergyNow SDG7 Action Forum at Climate Week NYC
Solar Cookers International (SCI) participated in the EnergyNow SDG7 Action Forum, held September 24–25, 2025, and hosted by UN-Energy alongside the UN General Assembly High-Level Week and Climate Week NYC (New York City).
SCI Program and Science Director, Alan Bigelow, Ph.D., took part in the forum, joining global stakeholders working to advance Sustainable Development Goal 7: access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. SCI joined to support this mission and highlight the relevance of solar cooking as a vital, often overlooked, component of clean energy access.
Speaking to the importance of the event, Alan shared, "It was crucial to represent SCI at this year's EnergyNow SDG7 Action Forum and add a voice from the solar cooking sector. While it was encouraging that clean cooking was at the top of the agenda (in Parallel Session 1), there are funding challenges that need to be met to help reach the established clean cooking targets. During one of my interventions, I reminded participants that the cost to cook can be boiled down to two aspects - the cost for a cooker and the cost for fuel - and that with solar cooking, there are no fuel costs, which is an extraordinary economic incentive for those who solar cook."
Solar cooking directly supports SDG7 by providing a renewable, no-emissions alternative to polluting and costly cooking fuels to families worldwide. It advances health, environmental sustainability, and energy equity. In fact, every hour, the sun delivers enough energy to power all human activity for a year.
SCI is grateful to its global network of supporters for making our presence at these key international forums possible. You are helping to ensure that solar cooking has a voice in the global energy transition.
To learn how solar cooking supports all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, click here.
Photo credit: International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)