Q&A: Universal Energy Access is Possible With the Right Support

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Aline Cunico interviews MIKHAIL EVSTAFYEV, Advocacy and Communications Coordinator of UNIDO UNITED NATIONS, Jun 15 (IPS) - Providing electricity and modern cooking technology to billions of �energy poor� people worldwide is one of the priorities of the U.N.�s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - one that experts say is achievable over the next few decades.From Jun. 21 to 23, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) will be hosting the Vienna Energy Forum, a major initiative aimed at combating energy poverty. Mikhail Evstafyev, advocacy and communications coordinator of UNIDO, spoke to IPS about how resource-efficient and low-carbon industries could help the 2 billion people around the globe living without electricity. Q: How can we reach the world's energy poor at an affordable and accessible cost? A: 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 percent of total annual investment in the energy sector, which could be mobilised 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. Q: What has UNIDO accomplished in recent years concerning poverty reduction and environmental sustainability? A: Over the past 45 years, UNIDO has been providing specialised services to promote sustainable industrial development, concerning poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. This is also reflected in our three thematic priorities - poverty reduction through productive activities; trade capacity building; and energy and environment. Through its analytical and policy advice function, UNIDO helps developing countries transition to a low carbon economy. As a global forum, UNIDO generates and disseminates knowledge while providing a platform for dialogue and cooperation. As part of its normative functions, UNIDO supports the development of global standards, designs and implements specialised, tailor-made programmes and projects to assist citizens of developing countries and nationals of economies in transition. Q: What are your expectations regarding the outcome of the Vienna Energy Forum (VEF)? A: The Vienna Energy Forum will bring together heads of state, policy-makers, experts, civil society and the private sector to discuss how to overcome energy poverty and how to move from declarations of intention to tangible action on the ground. Former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, and business magnate and philanthropist, Carlos Slim, will also speak at the event. VEF will facilitate a dialogue on how to provide universal energy access and on the multiple co-benefits of increasing energy efficiency. VEF will look at ways to agree on a common understanding of energy access, and on a strategy to ensure universal access to modern energy services. Participants will also discuss how to increase energy efficiency… and prioritise key national and regional actions on energy access and energy efficiency. The discussion on these topics will serve to propose an international architecture on how to ensure universal energy access. It will help map the related work of key stakeholders and define their roles and responsibilities. Based on this mapping, the development of an action-oriented roadmap will be initiated. Our partner organisation, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, will launch a Global Energy Assessment. Q: What countries have achieved success promoting environmental sustainability in recent years? A: A number of countries in the developing world are showing results in environmental sustainability. UNIDO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are contributing to improving resource efficiency through cleaner production centres in China, India, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Republic of Korea, among others. Overall, there have been significant gains made by Asia in moving towards resource-efficient and low-carbon industries over the years. But more needs to be done especially since resource use in the region continues to increase in absolute terms with the region's continuing economic growth. China has emerged as a major producer of solar photovoltaics and wind turbines. India increased its renewable energy target to 14-gigawatt renewable capacity by 2012. It has also adopted a National Action Plan for Climate Change that aims to protect the poor and the vulnerable through an inclusive and sustainable development strategy that is sensitive to climate change. And new policies are leading to 18 billion dollars of new manufacturing investment. Q: After the crisis in Japan, some countries aim to move away from nuclear energy. Can that be done and how? A: I am sure that in the future, when renewable energy sources become more affordable and universalised, we will see this happening. The Vienna Energy Forum 2011 will address the gamut of energy challenges including those from nuclear to renewable energy. This is why BBC will film a World Debate on energy under the theme ‘How do we power the 21st century?' during the forum. Q: Is it the role of developed countries to assist low-income countries in catching up to the green economy? A: Of course, developing countries need our help. And it can be delivered in different ways, including via intergovernmental agencies such as UNIDO. However, in recent years this has also been complemented by South-South cooperation as most poor countries have similar conditions and face the same sort of challenges. Interesting enough, the world's least developed countries, or LDCs, which have low-carbon profiles and rich natural assets, are better placed than industrialised countries to make their economies more environmentally sustainable because they are less dependent on fossil fuel-based technologies, according to a recent U.N. report. The report, ‘Why a Green Economy Matters for the Least Developed Countries', shows that new opportunities offered by a green economy will help LDCs meet their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the internationally agreed poverty reduction and social development targets that have a 2015 deadline. Structural constraints, including dependence on fragile agriculture, limited access to energy and low economic diversification - which have previously prevented LDCs from significantly reducing poverty and achieving higher rates of development - resulted from investments and policies that undervalued the importance of the economic sectors most relevant to the livelihoods of the poor. Find out more about the forces behind climate change - but also about the growing citizen awareness and new climate policies towards sustainable development http://ipsnews.net/climate_change/