“Sustainable Energy for All” is a noble slogan, which triggered an international initiative led by former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The fact is that 3 billion people around the world still lack reliable, safe and affordable energy. Some lack electricity grids, while others depend on firewood and animal dung for heating and cooking, in the absence of another source of fuel.

Access to safe sources of energy is undoubtedly a basic human right and a prerequisite for economic growth.

The seventh Goal of 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development calls for “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.”

The text was clear when it defined the kind of energy required by “modern, reliable and sustainable.” However, some have ignored the notion of “sustainable,” in an attempt to interpret the text as an open license until 2030 to use whatever kind and form of energy, however polluted, under the guise of the need to deliver energy to all, at any price.

If this trend was justified 20 years ago, it now belongs to the past, due to unprecedented technological developments in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and the dramatic decline in renewable energy prices.

There is no justification today for ignoring clean and renewable energy, after the cost of producing solar electricity in some countries dropped below the cost of production using any type of fossil fuel.

U.S. President Donald Trump failed to convince the world to abandon the global commitment to reduce carbon emissions to fight climate change; he was not even successful in persuading the scientific community and most states in America itself.

There is a general agreement that the climate is changing due to human activity, especially from fossil fuel emissions.

The opposition to the Trump trend was recently joined by religious leaders around the world, who considered combating climate change a moral and spiritual duty.

“The transition to accessible and clean energy is a duty that we owe toward millions of our brothers and sisters around the world, poorer countries and generations yet to come,” said the head of the Catholic Church Pope Francis, who hosted last month in the Vatican CEOs of major companies to discuss the transformation to clean sources of energy, accessible to all.

“Energy for all should not exacerbate the effects of climate change,” he said, explaining “civilization needs energy, but not the kind that destroys civilization itself.”

During the same period, the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew made an equally forceful speech during a meeting he called for at the Acropolis in Athens. “The identity of every society and measure of every culture are not judged by the degree of technological development, economic growth or public infrastructure,” he said. “Our civil life and civilization are defined and judged primarily by our respect for the dignity of humanity and integrity of nature.”

It is notable that such clear words come from spiritual leaders guiding hundreds of millions of people around the world. But intentions do not always become acts among the parish. A few days before Bartholomew’s talk of integrating with and respecting nature, a religious authority in Lebanon justified in a statement a large-scale development on church-owned protected land extending to public beaches.

In response to the objections of environmental groups that demanded the preservation of the unique natural location and the protection of the coast, the statement cited a passage from Genesis in the Old Testament: “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” It sounds like claiming a special explanation that gives people the right to violate nature. But it is hoped that this interpretation of the “Genesis” will not hold after Bartholomew’s words.

The International Islamic Symposium on Climate Change, held in Istanbul in 2015, considered that addressing climate change was a moral obligation and part of the religious duty of Muslims, based on the teachings of the prophet.

The symposium also called for a gradual transition to renewable energy to reduce emissions. It is hoped that similar statements be issued by leading Islamic authorities around the world, and taken further as commitments, not timid declarations.

Some people wrongly take the call for clean and renewable energy as a war against fossil fuels – oil, gas and coal. It is true that the world is heading toward carbon-free economies, demanding gradual phasing out of fossil fuels, as an inevitable condition to reduce climate change. We should not bury our heads in the sand.

The producing countries have a window of opportunity for transformation, which may not last longer than 30-40 years. During that period, gas and oil will retain a significant share in the energy mix, which producing countries must best exploit, by using the income to diversify their economies.

Transformations in the energy sector are happening fast. The number of electric cars in the world is expected to rise from 1 million today to 300 million in 2040, out of a total of 1 billion cars expected to be on the roads by that time. This would mean a decline of one-third in the expected demand for oil, as 90 percent of liquid oil is used in the transportation sector.

What will happen in 2050 and beyond? And what happens if China quickly converts electric cars into cheap consumer goods, as it is planning today? The unprecedented transformations ahead demand new approaches to best use available resources in preparation for a new era.