African, Caribbean and Pacific States Support Draft Resolution

On United Nations Decade of Sustainable Energy for All

 

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea, 14 December — The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) voiced support for the United Nations General Assembly’s draft resolution to declare a Decade of Sustainable Energy for All from 2014 to 2024.

The Sipopo Declaration, adopted at the seventh Summit of African, Caribbean and Pacific Heads of State and Government taking place in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea, also welcomed the commemoration of the United Nations International Year of Sustainable Energy for All in 2012, and recognized “the contribution of the ACP-European Union Energy Facility to the attainment of the objectives set in the area”.  It said the proposed Decade of Sustainable Energy for All would “continue to build on the momentum created, and promote action at all levels”.

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Heads of State outcome document complements a similar call for “a decade of Sustainable Energy for All” endorsed in a declaration by the Confederation of African Ministers in their recent meeting at the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November.

President Boni Yayi of Benin, Chairman of the African Union, noted that the Declaration and Summit provided an opportunity “to greet the initiatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and of the President of the European Union Commission aimed to ensure access to renewable energies for all”.

There is growing recognition among world leaders that access to energy is crucial for achieving all the Millennium Development Goals, and that transformation of the global energy sector is essential for combating climate change.  Access to energy is also central to discussions on the post-2015 development agenda and the proposed new Sustainable Development Goals.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stated that “there can be no sustainable development without sustainable energy.”

As President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, President-in-Office of the seventh ACP Summit, noted in his remarks to the gathering, the “production and access to energy sources and their sustainable management is critical for countries wishing to create dynamic economic growth and sustainable human development”.

Prime Minister Henry Puna of the Cook Islands, Chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum, underscored the importance of the issue for Summit participants.  “Energy is inextricably tied to our economic growth and welfare, and my colleagues from around the Pacific have taken bold steps to unlock the door of dependency on fossil fuel.”

In 2011, the Secretary-General launched the Sustainable Energy for All initiative to mobilize action from all sectors of society to achieve sustainable energy for all.  He set three objectives to be reached by 2030:  to provide universal energy access; to double the rate of global energy efficiency improvement; and to double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

The Secretary-General announced in September that Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Chairman of UN-Energy, will be Special Representative and Chief Executive of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.  The Secretary-General and Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank, will co-chair the initiative’s advisory board.

For more information, please contact Mikhail Evstafyev, UNIDO, at tel.:  +43 699 1459 7329, e-mail:  M.Evstafyev@unido.org; Cynthia Scharf, Secretary-General’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative, at tel.:  +1 917 825 1494, e-mail:  scharfc@un.org; or Dan Shepard, Department of Public Information, at tel.:  +1 212 963 9495, e-mail:  shepard@un.org.

For more information on Sustainable Energy for All, please visit www.sustainableenergyforall.org.

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For information media • not an official record