|
Excellences, Distinguished gust, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great honor being here today, Weare gathered here today at the International Financing Conference on SustainableEnergy in Beijing Financial AssetsExchange Center (“CFAEC”), China, to underscore once again thatsustainable energy is crucial asset and vital ingredient for sustainable developmentand for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (“MDG”) including the eradicatingof extreme poverty by half by the year 2015 and for improving the conditionsand standard of living for the majority of the world’s population. Thisevent brigs together governments, investors, theprivate sector, civil society organizations, social enterprises and policymakersfrom around the world to share heir perspectives on energy opportunities andchallenges, and provides platform to deliberate the shiftsand innovative business models that are needed to catalyze the sector andthe new horizons in energy — with Asia leading the global demand for energy. I am urging the audience in the conferenceto recognize the significant impact that energysecurity has on all aspects of sustainable and inclusive development. Energy policy choices of the past have formed the currenteconomic and social development, environmental and strategic landscape of theStates in very profound ways, and energy decisions that we make today, willhave an equally profound impact on the economic and social development, environmentaland strategic landscape of our generation and more so on future generations to come. Achieving a more secure future will require a more determinedeffort to understand the substantive aspects of energy security: thegeopolitics of energy; the economics of energy; and the growing environmentalimperative of balancing increasing global economic prosperity in acarbon-constrained context. SustainableEnergy for All Theworld faces urgent and interconnected challenges related to modern energyservices. Accordingto the United Nations, oneout of every five people — nearly1.5 billion people — on earth has noaccess to electricity or the opportunities that it provides for health, safety,working, learning or operating a business, most of them concentrated inabout a dozen countries in Africa and in Asia[1]. Twiceas many people — nearly 3 billion —use wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste to cook their meals and heat theirhomes, exposing themselves and their families to smoke and fumes that damagetheir health and kills nearly 2 millionpeople a year[2]. Energy and Human Development: Sustainable and inclusive development requires sustainableenergy. Sustainable energy is critical asset for allaspects of human progress and for inclusive human development, Energy is central to everything we do – from powering our economies to generating jobs, from combating climatechange to strengthening security, Access to modern affordable energy and energy relatedproduces and modern energy services, both traditionaland new and renewable energy, in developing countries is essential for the achievement of theinternationally agreed upon development goals, including the MillenniumDevelopment Goals or in Post MDG Agenda, and for inclusive development,which would help to reduce poverty and to improve the conditions and standardof living for the majority of the world’s population, Iwish to underscore that the dividends on progress made on universal access to affordable energyand efficient and Super-efficient Equipment andAppliance Deployment include the clean energysolutions are felt mostly by the “bottom billion”, which suffer the most from energy poverty — not having access to high-quality, safe, and affordable andsustainable energy services, and whose lives can be completelytransformed with access to clean, efficient and affordable energy and energyrelated appliances. High-Impact Opportunities Developed countries face the combined challengeand opportunity of transforming existing infrastructure, and developing countries have theopportunity to adopt cleaner, more efficient technology from the start. The objectives: Ensuring universal access to modern affordableenergy and energy related produces and modern energy services, bothtraditional and new and renewable energy to all peoplearound the world with emphasis on 1.5 billion people who are deprived of energyat the moment; Doubling the rate in improvement of energy efficiency by2030 — getting more from our existing energy resources —increases global energy resource productivity and efficiency, supports economicand social development, and reduces costs for global community; and Doubling the share of renewable energy in the globalenergy mix by 2030 — wind,water, the sun, biomass and geothermal energy — is inexhaustible andclean. Renewable energy currently constitutes 15% of the global energy mix. These three objectives reinforce each other in many instances,and achieving the three together will power opportunity and will drive positiveoutcomes by extending and enhancing access to, and adoption of sustainableenergy, maximizing development benefits and helps stabilizeclimate change. The United Nations SustainableEnergy for All Initiative TheSustainable Energy for All initiative of the United Nations aims at addressingthe challenges by brings together governments, businesses and civil societygroups in an unprecedented effort to transform the world’s energy systems by2030. According to the International Energy Agency (“IEA”), financinguniversal access to modern energy services would cost only about three per centof total global investments in energy. Sinceits launch in September 2011, Sustainable Energy for All has achieved thefollowing[1]: More than 50 Governments from Africa, Asia, Latin America,and the Small Islands Developing States have engaged with the initiative andare developing energy plans and programmes. The majority are from developingcountries that have initiated or completed energy sector assessments and gapanalyses, thus laying the groundwork to scale up action in priority areas,undertake strategic reforms where needed, and attract new investments andfinancial support; At least 118countries have set policy targets or created supportive renewable energypolicies; and Businesses and investors have committed over USD $50 billionto achieve the initiative’s three objectives. Tens of billions of dollars havebeen committed by other key stakeholders – governments, multilateraldevelopment banks, international and civil society organizations – to catalyzeaction in support of the initiative. Bank Group Contribution Founded in 1988, the EurOrientFinancial Group is a private sector global development financeinstitutionaccredited by United Nations GeneralAssembly on Financing for Development. Its mission is to support the economic and social development effortsof the less developed countries as they, in particular, seek to achieve theMillennium Development Goals ("MDGs") and otherinternationally agreed development goals. Under myleadership, the EurOrient Financial Group transforming froma relatively straightforward project financier institution into a full-fledgedprivate sector global development bank responding to a wide range ofdevelopment needs – the world’s secondglobal development bank – positioned next to the World Bank Group and next to the preeminent regional developmentbanks. As a global development bank, the EurOrient FinancialGroup seeksto foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by financing privateand public sector investment, mobilizing capital in the international financialmarkets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments. The EurOrient Financial Groupemphasizes six strategic priorities: Strengtheningthe focus on frontier markets; Addressingclimate change and ensuring environmental and social sustainability; Addressingconstraints in infrastructure, health, education, and the food-supply chain Developinglocal financial markets Building long-term client relationships in emerging markets for all newinvestments, theEurOrient Financial Group articulates the expected impact on sustainable development, and, as theprojects mature, theEurOrient Financial Group assesses the quality of the development benefits realized EurOrient’sstrategic priorities are aligned to advance the United Nations’ globalpriorities. The EurOrient Financial Group is developing an action agenda that will mobilize,human, technical and financial resources in support of energy access, energyefficiency and increasing the share of new and renewableenergy -- focusingon the needs of infrastructure in renewable energy and energy efficiencyprojects that are active in any aspect of climate change mitigation andadaptation. These initiatives are at an early stage, and are likely to behandled by modifying existing programs and or to addressed by newly developedinitiatives. A range of commitments and partnerships will beannounced at the latter this year. “Ourgoal is to turn on the lights for all households andimprove the standard of living to“bottom billion” by providing access to energy they need to build moreproductive, healthier and sustainable living.” Bymobilizing action from a broad range of stakeholders in support of the “SustainableEnergy for All” initiative of the United Nations, the EurOrient Financial Groupwill also advances the United Nations initiative thatbrings all key actors to the table to make sustainable energy for all a realityby 2030. Ladiesand Gentlemen, Goodand dedicated people have for the last generation and more worked on many ofthese issues in recent years. Their visions have only been partially realized.I am proposing to have an open and keen dialog addressing the hard issues ofinvesting in sustainable energy for inclusive development and about ensuring universal access to modern affordableenergy and energy related produces and modern energy services, bothtraditional and new and renewable energy to all peoplearound the world, because we do not want our children meetingthirty years from now debating these same topics. We want them to be enjoyingthe fruits of a far more safe and developed world, a world that built on more solidfoundations. Iwish you every success in your deliberations on what are indeed watershedissues. Thankyou very much. Ron Nechemia
Related Articles -
Ron Nechemia, EurOrient, Ron Nechemia EurOrient, Ron Nechemia Remark, Ron Nechemia speech, Ron Nechemia clean energy. ron nechemia UN,
| 
