Calling Energy ‘Thread’ Weaving Social Equity, Green Growth, Secretary-General Urges Participants at Vienna Forum to Bolster Efforts Ahead of Post-2015 Era
Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Li Yong, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), to the Vienna Energy Forum, in Vienna today:
It is a pleasure to greet the participants in the Vienna Energy Forum. I thank Austria’s Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, the Austrian Development Agency, the UN Industrial Development Organization and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis for organizing this gathering and for their commitment to my “Sustainable Energy for All” initiative.
You meet at a crucial juncture in world affairs. The United Nations is working hard to make 2015 is a year of global action for people and the planet. In the months ahead, we have once-in-a-generation opportunities to steer the world towards truly sustainable development and to take ambitious steps to address the threat of climate change.
Energy is the thread connecting economic growth, social equity and environmental protection. From Austria and Brazil to China and Djibouti, sustainable approaches to energy production and consumption are taking hold. The recently launched SE4All Global Tracking Framework shows that between 2010 and 2012, 222 million people, including 55 million people in India alone, got access to electricity for the first time.
We have also seen game-changing commitments: the European Union’s ElectriFI and the Power Africa undertaking announced by the United States. Other efforts include IRENA’s SIDS Lighthouses Initiative and Africa Clean Energy Corridor. With initiatives such as these, we can halve energy poverty by 2030.
Still, we must focus on the challenges ahead. Each year, 4 million people, most of them women and children, die from illness caused by household air pollution. Access to non-solid fuels should be a particular priority area. The “Sustainable Energy for All” initiative continues its efforts to meet the three objectives by 2030: ensuring universal access to modern energy services; doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.
Member States have included affordable, reliable and modern energy among the proposed sustainable development goals to be adopted in September as part of the post-2015 development agenda. Next month’s International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa offers an opportunity to explore how to mobilize an additional $120 billion per year for sustainable energy.
The SE4All Global Energy Efficiency Commitments Platform was launched at the Climate Summit last year. It is now part of the Lima-Paris Action Agenda. Our aim, by the time the Conference of the Parties meets in Paris in December, is to have at least 100 jurisdictions, 100 businesses and 100 financial institutions engaged with commitments and action plans. I encourage you to join these efforts and help achieve the scaled up action we need.
Thank you again for your leadership and commitment. Please accept my best wishes for a successful forum.