The Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development (GNESD) will deal with this issue at a workshop to take place on 7 December 2010 in connection with COP16 in Mexico.
 |  | | | Clean Energy Access for All: Eradicating global energy poverty. COP16 Side Event and GNESD Annual Expert Meeting, Cancun, 7 December 2010. Click here to see the programme
To learn more, visit GNESD’s website
The report “Energy for a Sustainable Future, THE SECRETARY-GENERAL’S ADVISORY GROUP ON ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE (AGECC) SUMMARY REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS, 28 April 2010, New York” is available here | |
For 2.4 billion people worldwide the only possibility for preparing meals is to use simple cookers for wood or other types of biomass. 1.6 billion of these people haven’t got any kind of access to electricity at all. And most of them cannot provide cleaner and more modern fuels such as kerosene, liquefied gas (LPG) or natural gas.
The latest report from the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC) from April 2010 stresses the need for equal access to clean energy for all people worldwide. There is a need for a clean, reliable and economically reasonable energy supply for cooking, heating, lighting, communication and local industrial production by 2030, the report says.
The Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development (GNESD) will deal with these issues at a workshop to take place on 7 December 2010 in conncetion with COP16 in Mexico.
As a part of the UNEP Risoe Centre, GNESD has its secretariat in the Systems Analysis Division at Risø DTU. GNESD has been actively involved in the preparation of the AGECC report.
According to the AGECC report, the emissions of greenhouse gases will not increase substantially, even if we provide these 2.4 billion people with access to modern energy services. The International Energy Agency estimates that increased access to electricity to cover these people's basic needs will only lead to an increase of 1.3 percent in greenhouse gas emissions.
The limited emissions could be reduced further through increased energy efficiency and by using renewable and cleaner energy sources, ensuring that the poorest countries won’t have to follow a fossil development like industrialised countries have done.
The necessary investments for ensuring universal access to energy, could, according to the report, be covered by a limited part of the suggested climate funding.
The importance of the subject is emphasised by the fact that leaders from a wide range of international organisations have agreed to speak:
- Achim Steiner Executive Director, UNEP
- Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director, International Energy Agency
- Thomas Johansson, Co-chair GNESD & Co-chair Global Energy Assessment
- Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General, UNIDO
- Ogunlade Davidson, Minister for Energy in Sierra Leone
- John Christensen, Director, UNEP Risoe Centre, Risø DTU
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