UN Human Development Report calls for Sustainable Energy for All

November 2, 2011
The annual United Nations Human Development Report which was released today (Wed 2nd Nov) calls for universal access to sustainable energy – a vision which is shared by Renewable World and is at the heart of everything we do.

The title of the 2011 report which was launched in Copenhagen today is: Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All. The report argues that environmental sustainability can be most fairly and effectively achieved by addressing health, education, income, and gender disparities together with the need for global action on energy production and ecosystem protection.

As the world community prepares for the landmark UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, the report argues that sustainability must be approached as a matter of basic social justice, for current and future generations alike.

UNDP has commissioned the editorially-independent Human Development Reports each year since 1990, when its Human Development Index (HDI), a composite measure of health, education and income, first challenged purely economic measures of national achievement and called for consistent global tracking of progress in overall living standards.

In order to deliver on the focus of this year’s report – sustainable development, the UN has designated 2012 the International Year for Sustainable Energy for All and next year’s Rio+20 conference is being billed as an opportunity to define a global approach to universal access to energy. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced a high-level group yesterday to drum up support for energy access, energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energy. As part of this process, Renewable World is proud to have been invited to participate in the UN Energy Access Practitioner Network which aims to catalyse activity on energy provision, making the vision of access to sustainable energy for all a reality.