Stakeholder consultation workshop to review Tonga's SDG7 and TERM Plus 2021-2035 roadmap scenarios

30th October, 2020 The Government of Tonga through the Department of Energy (DOE) under the Ministry of MEIDECC, in partnership with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), conducted a one-day stakeholder consultation workshop to review Tonga's SDG7 and TERM-PLUS 2021 -2035 roadmap scenarios. The workshop was held at the MEIDECC office, Nuku’alofa and was attended by representatives from all line Ministries and other relevant private stakeholders. 

The joint workshop was to review the draft TERM-PLUS 2021-2035 document, which is an extended version of the initial TERM 2010-2020 document. In addition, the DOE and the UN-ESCAP have been developing a national energy transitional planning tool NEXSTEP (National Expert SDG Tool for Energy Planning). The tool is to assist Tonga in making informed decisions about the transitions in the energy sector during it pursuit of the NDCs and SDG7 targets.

In the opening remarks Dr. Tevita Tukunga, Director of Energy, highlighted that this joint workshop will be an opportunity for stakeholders to review and add value to the finalization of TERM PLUS and  using the NEXTSTEP tool to assist in planning and monitoring the progress with the implementation. He noted that the presence of the stakeholders reflects Tonga's whole-of-sector approach to planning and managing the energy sector, which will no doubt make it easier for for GGGI and UN-ESCAP to successfully complete their much appreciated technical assistances to Tonga

Mr. Daniel Smith, GGGI’s Country Representative for Tonga, in his opening remark, reiterated that GGGI and UN-ESCAP have been working together before in coordinating key stakeholders' workshops in other countries and they are looking forward for another successful collaboration in finalizing the TERM PLUS document for Tonga.

As the development of the energy sector is a national development priority, Tonga has decided to prioritise strengthening and improving its data gathering, analysis and tracking capacity. This will greatly assist in its effort of tracking the progress and  achievements in relation to the SDG7, Nationally Determine Contributions (NDC), Tonga Energy Roadmap (TERM), Tonga Energy Efficiency Master Plan, and other energy related national enrgy plans and targets.

ENDS

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Source: gov.to