2nd United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Forum kicked off in New York

The World Energy Council was fully represented at the forum with various sessions during 18-21 May at the UN headquarters in New York.

[ Left to right: Christoph Frei, World Energy Council Secretary General, and Kandeh Yumkella, CEO SE4All talk about ways to meet the SE4All targets.]

 

The second annual United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Forum took place with leaders from government, business and civil society coming together to drive action to meet the SE4All targets on energy access, efficiency and renewables. This important meeting came ahead of the UN General Assembly in September where energy will be formally recognised as a sustainable development goal.

During Multi-Stakeholder Days more than 2,000 energy leaders and practitioners shared and advanced innovative energy solutions, launched reports and initiatives on a wide range of energy issues.

The World Energy Council was fully represented with sessions highlighting the important role of regional interconnection in delivering the SE4All objectives led by our Vice Chair for Latin America and the Caribbean Dr. Jose Antonio Vargas Lleras, supported by the Chair of our Chilean member committee, Francesco Giorgianni, Pedro Ruiz de Oliveira Jatobá from Eletrobras and Hamilton Moss, Vice President for Energy at CAF-Development Bank of Latin America. The Council also hosted a panel looking at the impact of the volatility in the energy sector as highlighted in the latest World Energy Issues Monitor report. This session was be led by the Executive Secretary of our U.S. Member committee Barry Worthington and the Council’s Senior Director for External Affairs and Communications, Stuart Neil and will include representatives of the World Bank, Vestas, NREL.

At a parallel event on 19 May for SE4All Advisory Board members held at NASDAQ the UN hosted a special session on scaling up investment for sustainable energy in Africa. The Secretary General of the World Energy Council represented our organisation in this meeting and attended the subsequent SE4All Advisory Board meeting.

[The World Energy Council is fully represented at the forum with various sessions during 18-21 May at the UN headquarters in New York. UN Photo: Andrea Brizzi.]

On 20-21 May, over forty ministers of energy, finance and development took part in the Global Energy Ministerial in the UN General Assembly Hall, along with some fifty global leaders, including private sector CEOs, heads of UN agencies, development banks and other international and civil society organizations, among the many participants. Among the ministerial panels was a high-level dialogue on energy and our Secretary General, Christoph Frei, addressed this session looking at global energy governance and the role of the UN.

This years SE4All Forum was intended to build momentum on energy issues ahead of both the September UN Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda, and the December Climate Conference in Paris, and contribute to shaping the direction of future energy policy

For those who could not get there, for the Multi-Stakeholder Days, +Social Good (plussocialgood.org) features original content, including several Google hang-outs with energy innovators, using #socialgood.

Watch the UN Events webcast at webtv.un.org.

For more details see www.se4allforum.org and www.se4all.org