International Year of Sustainable Energy for All inaugurated

(January 17, 2012) The United Nations chief on Monday inaugurated the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, and called on governments, the private sector and civil society to help expand energy access, improve efficiency and increase the use of renewables. Globally, one person in five still lacks access to modern electricity and twice that number – three billion people – rely on wood, coal, charcoal, or animal waste for cooking and heating. “We are here to build a new energy future… a future that harnesses the power of technology and innovation in the service of people and the planet,” UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon said in remarks to the opening of the World Future Energy Summit, which is taking place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. “Sustainable energy for all is within our reach,” he told the summit, which also served as the global launch of 2012 as the International Year. Ban stressed that energy is central to everything, from powering economies to achieving the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), from combating climate change to underpinning global security. He noted widespread energy poverty still condemns billions to darkness, to ill-health, to missed opportunities for education and prosperity. “That is why,” he said, “energy poverty must end… We need to turn on the lights for all households.”