Our relationship with the UN

As UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon launched Sustainable Energy for All as an initiative of the UN in 2011. In 2016, entrusted by the UN and World Bank to continue to accelerate action on the newly-launched Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), SEforALL was established as a Quasi-International Organization under Austrian law, headquartered in Vienna.  

Ogunbiyi and SG Guterres
SEforALL CEO Damilola Ogunbiyi and UN Secretary-General António Guterres

We maintain close links with the UN, including through a ten-year Relationship Agreement endorsed by the Secretary-General’s Cabinet.  Supported by the SEforALL team, our CEO serves as the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All. Alongside Achim Steiner, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, she also acts as Co-Chair of UN-Energy, the United Nations‘ mechanism for inter-agency collaboration in the field of energy.

SEforALL cooperates through bilateral partnerships and other mechanisms with many UN agencies, including UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO, and the WHO.  Finally, we work with the UN Foundation as a fiscal sponsor for SEforALL in the United States, and with the UN Office of Project Services (UNOPS) on the management of funds, staff contracts and procurement.