Access to energy for all by 2030?
An ambitious yet achievable goal.
In Europe, when children need to study after dark, they switch on the lights. When we are sick, we go to a doctor’s office or hospital, where electricity powers the equipment. When we go to our offices and shops in the morning, we turn on the lights, computers, coffee makers and printers.
For 1.3 billion people worldwide, the equivalent of the combined populations of Europe and Africa, none of this is an option. Twice that number, 40% of the world’s population, rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste to cook food, resulting in toxic smoke that causes lung disease and death. This is neither equitable nor sustainable.
On Monday (16 April), during the EU Sustainable Energy for All Summit in Brussels, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, announced the launch of a new EU initiative ‘Energising development’ and a commitment to provide access to sustainable-energy services for 500 million people in developing countries by 2030. This initiative will include the creation of an EU technical assistance facility, in excess of €50 million for the initial two years.
UN initiative
This ambitious new programme demonstrates the priority placed on energy within the broader development agenda, and serves as a significant commitment to the Sustainable Energy for All initiative launched by the UN’s secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon. The secretary-general has outlined three objectives for his initiative: 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, all by 2030. Ambitious certainly, but also achievable.
Energy powers development, and sustainable energy powers sustainable development. While under-prioritised for decades, a global consensus is emerging that recognises the importance of access to sustainable energy for the future of the global economy, improving social equity and preserving our environment.
Click Here: Cheap France Rugby Jersey
Global action
To help guide his Sustainable Energy for All initiative, Ban established a high-level group and asked it to develop a global action agenda to move from aspiration to action, to scale up successful projects and to establish innovative partnerships capable of driving progress on the ground. We are privileged to serve on this group, along with colleagues drawn from the private sector, civil society and governments from around the world.
The EU is playing a lead role on this issue, with more than €1 billion already dedicated to delivering energy access through its aid programmes over the past five years. For example, the Africa-EU energy partnership will provide energy for 13 million people and access to energy services is a vital part of the EU’s new development policy.
This is strong start but much more still needs to be done. The International Energy Agency estimates that $48 billion (€36.6bn) per year is needed to provide universal energy access by 2030. This is significant, but feasible. After all, it represents only 3% of global annual capital investment in energy.
Expertise and innovation
It is a simple fact that development assistance and government revenue will never be sufficient to fund the billions of euros of investments necessary to accomplish this goal. That is why the secretary-general’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative is so important. The UN is ideally placed to bring all stakeholders to the table, including the private sector. We need their investment, but also their expertise and innovation if we are to reach this goal.
We also must encourage and assist governments in developing countries to reform their energy sectors, to build and expand on existing national energy-access strategies, and to enable investment to flourish. And we have to stand behind their aspirations with assistance, both technical and through development assistance, delivered through innovative financial instruments such as grant-loan blending schemes, micro-credit and risk guarantees.
The energy choices that we make are crucial, too. If we are to limit damage to the environment, the energy we use must be sustainable, safe, affordable and as clean as possible. While increasing energy access, we must also keep in mind our commitments to addressing climate change if we are to have any hope of keeping global temperature rise below two degrees Celsius, as the science says we must.
These challenges also provide opportunities. New markets will be created, new productive partnerships forged, new innovative technologies developed, and income and jobs created. In fact, what we are engaged in is nothing short of an energy revolution.
As we prepare for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June in Rio, we have an unprecedented opportunity to make a significant and lasting difference in the lives of some of the world’s poorest people. The case for universal energy access is a moral, social, environmental and economic one. No issue is more relevant to the global economy, the prosperity and well-being of the world’s poorest people, and the preservation of our planet.
Andris Piebalgs is the European commissioner for development. Kandeh Yumkella is chairman of UN-Energy.