UN Secretary-General to Host First Sustainable Energy for All Forum

30 May 2014
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African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

From: 04/06/2014

To: 06/06/2014

Location: New York

Over one thousand leaders, experts and energy practitioners are confirmed to participate, from government, business, international organizations and civil society groups for the first annual Sustainable Energy for All Forum, to be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York from June 4-6.

Kandeh Yumkella, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and CEO of the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative, says "the Forum is shaping up to be a major stepping stone, where we can collectively assess the results of our commitments, spur new efforts and together chart a way forward to achieve our objectives."

Donald Kaberuka, Member of SE4ALL Advisory Board and President of the African Development Bank which hosts the SE4ALL Africa Hub, says that "the SE4ALL decade in Africa was just launched at our Annual Meetings in Kigali. We strongly believe this initiative is a game-changer. Africa has important resources for energy, including renewable resources that, if used in a sustainable manner, could electrify the entire continent where only 43 per cent of the population has access to electricity."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the SE4ALL initiative in 2011 with three objectives: ensuring universal access to modern energy services, and doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, all by 2030. Over $50 billion in commitments were made by businesses and others at the Rio+20 conference in 2012; a number of these commitments have been met and exceeded, while others are in progress.

In promoting sustainable energy solutions, the Forum will help build towards the UN Climate Change Summit in September, which will focus on solutions to climate challenges.

Among the high-level government representatives joining Mr. Ban at the June Forum will be President Olafur Grimsson of Iceland and over 20 ministerial-level officials, from Brazil, China, Ecuador, Gabon, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Tanzania and other countries, plus the European Commission.

Read the original article on African Development Bank (AfDB).

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