UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change is calling for the international community to commit to universal access to modern energy services by 2030. The financial implications of meeting this goal are large, but not overwhelming when weighed against the enormous benefits.
MEXICO CITY – If you are reading this article, you most likely have electricity and heat at home and never think of that fact as at all remarkable. But over 2 billion people – one in three people on our planet – have no access to modern energy to light and heat the dwellings in which they live.
The obstacles to energy access are not technical. We know how to build power systems, design modern cooking stoves, and meet energy demand efficiently. What is missing is a global commitment to move energy access up the political and development agendas.
Half of the world’s population uses solid fuel, such as wood, charcoal, or dung, for cooking. According to the World Health Organization, 1.6 million women and children die each year as a result of indoor smoke inhalation, more than from malaria. Add the pollutant emissions from such stoves, together with the deforestation that results from using firewood, and you have several pressing global challenges that can be tackled at once by closing the energy gap.
Efforts to close this gap have so far been insufficient in scale and scope, but a plan of action now exists, developed in recent months by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC). The Group brings together top UN officials and business executives, including from Edison International, Statoil, Suntech Holdings, and Vattenfall.
Through this innovative public-private partnership, we analyzed global energy access and recommended in our resulting report that the international community commit to universal access to modern energy services by 2030. The report also called for a 40% reduction in global energy intensity by 2030, which, if implemented, would reduce global energy intensity at approximately double the historical rate.
AGECC is now working on how best to deliver on the plan. This was the focus of the Group’s last meeting, held on July 15 in Mexico City. It was hosted by the Carlos Slim Foundation, which works in support of implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in such areas as health, deforestation, and closing the digital divide.
Access every new PS commentary, our entire On Point suite of subscriber-exclusive content – including Longer Reads, Insider Interviews, Big Picture/Big Question, and Say More – and the full PS archive.
Subscribe Now
Mexico will be the location for key UN climate talks later this year, and AGECC is interacting with the country’s energy ministry to ensure a coordinated and effective approach.
The financial implications of ensuring universal energy access are large, but not overwhelming when weighed against the enormous benefits. The International Energy Agency estimates that, over the next two decades, ensuring universal access to electricity would require around 10% of total annual investment in the energy sector, which can be mobilized by the private sector. Universal energy access is a new market opportunity, but one that needs the right support to thrive.
Many clean technologies are already available, so we are not talking about investing billions in research. It is a question of transferring the technologies and adapting them to local conditions and needs.
But increasing energy access is not only about supplying better, more efficient cooking stoves or light bulbs. To promote economic development and growth, energy services must also work in the interest of creating wealth and jobs by providing power for businesses and improving healthcare, education, and transportation.
In September, world leaders will meet at the UN to assess progress on the MDGs. While there is no goal on energy, it is central to meeting the other MDGs, especially those concerning poverty and hunger, universal education, and environmental sustainability.
Governments alone will not be able to deal with all of these challenges. We need a firm commitment from all sides: private businesses, academia, civil society, and international organizations and NGOs.
The deadline for delivering universal energy access is 2030. Will you join us?
To have unlimited access to our content including in-depth commentaries, book reviews, exclusive interviews, PS OnPoint and PS The Big Picture, please subscribe
China’s prolonged reliance on fiscal stimulus has distorted economic incentives, fueling a housing glut, a collapse in prices, and spiraling public debt. With further stimulus off the table, the only sustainable path is for the central government to relinquish more economic power to local governments and the private sector.
argues that the country’s problems can be traced back to its response to the 2008 financial crisis.
World order is a matter of degree: it varies over time, depending on technological, political, social, and ideological factors that can affect the global distribution of power and influence norms. It can be radically altered both by broader historical trends and by a single major power's blunders.
examines the role of evolving power dynamics and norms in bringing about stable arrangements among states.
MEXICO CITY – If you are reading this article, you most likely have electricity and heat at home and never think of that fact as at all remarkable. But over 2 billion people – one in three people on our planet – have no access to modern energy to light and heat the dwellings in which they live.
The obstacles to energy access are not technical. We know how to build power systems, design modern cooking stoves, and meet energy demand efficiently. What is missing is a global commitment to move energy access up the political and development agendas.
Half of the world’s population uses solid fuel, such as wood, charcoal, or dung, for cooking. According to the World Health Organization, 1.6 million women and children die each year as a result of indoor smoke inhalation, more than from malaria. Add the pollutant emissions from such stoves, together with the deforestation that results from using firewood, and you have several pressing global challenges that can be tackled at once by closing the energy gap.
Efforts to close this gap have so far been insufficient in scale and scope, but a plan of action now exists, developed in recent months by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC). The Group brings together top UN officials and business executives, including from Edison International, Statoil, Suntech Holdings, and Vattenfall.
Through this innovative public-private partnership, we analyzed global energy access and recommended in our resulting report that the international community commit to universal access to modern energy services by 2030. The report also called for a 40% reduction in global energy intensity by 2030, which, if implemented, would reduce global energy intensity at approximately double the historical rate.
AGECC is now working on how best to deliver on the plan. This was the focus of the Group’s last meeting, held on July 15 in Mexico City. It was hosted by the Carlos Slim Foundation, which works in support of implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in such areas as health, deforestation, and closing the digital divide.
Introductory Offer: Save 30% on PS Digital
Access every new PS commentary, our entire On Point suite of subscriber-exclusive content – including Longer Reads, Insider Interviews, Big Picture/Big Question, and Say More – and the full PS archive.
Subscribe Now
Mexico will be the location for key UN climate talks later this year, and AGECC is interacting with the country’s energy ministry to ensure a coordinated and effective approach.
The financial implications of ensuring universal energy access are large, but not overwhelming when weighed against the enormous benefits. The International Energy Agency estimates that, over the next two decades, ensuring universal access to electricity would require around 10% of total annual investment in the energy sector, which can be mobilized by the private sector. Universal energy access is a new market opportunity, but one that needs the right support to thrive.
Many clean technologies are already available, so we are not talking about investing billions in research. It is a question of transferring the technologies and adapting them to local conditions and needs.
But increasing energy access is not only about supplying better, more efficient cooking stoves or light bulbs. To promote economic development and growth, energy services must also work in the interest of creating wealth and jobs by providing power for businesses and improving healthcare, education, and transportation.
In September, world leaders will meet at the UN to assess progress on the MDGs. While there is no goal on energy, it is central to meeting the other MDGs, especially those concerning poverty and hunger, universal education, and environmental sustainability.
Governments alone will not be able to deal with all of these challenges. We need a firm commitment from all sides: private businesses, academia, civil society, and international organizations and NGOs.
The deadline for delivering universal energy access is 2030. Will you join us?