Building a Better World Together: Cooperative Contributions to the SDGs is a policy brief series developed in support of the UN International Year of Cooperatives 2025 (IYC2025) to highlight how cooperatives advance sustainable development by strengthening resilience, promoting inclusion, and supporting people and communities through collective action.
The SDG 7 brief – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all – demonstrates how cooperatives address structural gaps in energy access, affordability, and the clean-energy transition by expanding last-mile service delivery, mobilizing community investment, and embedding democratic governance into energy systems. From rural electrification and mini-grids to renewable generation, clean cooking, and demand-side efficiency, cooperatives help ensure that energy systems serve people first and distribute benefits equitably.
Drawing on diverse cooperative models — including rural electric cooperatives, renewable energy cooperatives, multi-stakeholder energy communities, financial cooperatives, and cooperative utilities — the brief presents real-world examples from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. These cases illustrate how cooperatives expand electricity access in underserved regions, stabilize tariffs through cost-of-service models, mobilize local capital for renewable energy projects, strengthen grid resilience, and protect consumers during periods of price volatility and energy transition.
Produced by the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the brief affirms that cooperatives are essential partners in achieving SDG 7 through people-centered, democratic, and locally anchored approaches. During the International Year of Cooperatives and beyond, cooperative energy solutions offer practical and scalable pathways to advance universal access, accelerate the renewable transition, enhance system resilience, and ensure that no community is left behind.
The policy brief is available for download in English, with Spanish and French forthcoming.