UN launches DECADE-LONG initiative TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE energy FOR ALL New York, Apr 9 2014 6:00PM The United Nations launched today the Decade of Sustainable Energy for All (2014-2024), an initiative aimed at promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency worldwide, with a forum to take place annually, starting this coming June.The initiative, announced in New York at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit, has three main objectives: ensuring universal access to modern energy services, doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and sharing renewable energy globally.“The speed and scale of interventions we need to transform our current energy system and ensure shared prosperity lie in the private sector,” said Kandeh Yumkella, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative, as he called on the private sector to innovate and invest in order to help reach the initiative’s three objectives by 2030.In his address, Mr. Yumkella also announced that the UN will convene the first annual Sustainable Energy for All Forum on 4-6 June at its New York Headquarters, working with the World Bank and other key partners.The Forum will gather leaders from Government, the private sector, civil society and international organizations to assess progress on sustainable energy, showcase innovation, present new commitments and spur further action. It will also add momentum towards the UN climate change summit in September, and advance the dialogue on how energy issues should be reflected in the post-2015 development agenda.Currently, one out of five people lives without access to electricity. Nearly 40 per cent of the world’s population rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste to cook food, leading to nearly two million deaths a year – mostly women and children – from lung disease caused by toxic smoke in their homes. The initiative stresses that finding ways to address this energy poverty while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and tackling climate change is a crucial global challenge.“Energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, increased social equity and a healthy environment. Sustainable development is not possible without sustainable energy,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “That is why I launched the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative in 2011. Now, the Decade and Forum will help us stay on track to meet the objectives we have set.”According to a UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) <“http://www.unep.org/
