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SE4All - Sustainable Energy for All – Initiative
solar panel in the dessert (Archive), © picture alliance / Frank Duenzl
SE4All - Sustainable Energy for All – Initiative
In September 2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced his vision for making sustainable energy for all a reality by 2030. He launched „Sustainable Energy for All“ as a global initiative that would mobilize action from all sectors of society in support of three interlinked objectives:
· providing universal access to modern energy services;
· doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency
· doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.
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The SE4All Secretariat, the „Global Facilitation Team“, began its work in 2013 and has its headquarters in Vienna and another office in New York. Since January 2016 Rachel Kyte serves as Chief Executive Officer of SE4All. Ms Kyte served until December 2015 as World Bank Group Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change.
The Initiative has generated significant momentum since its launch. More than 100 states, the majority of these developing countries, have committed themselves to support the Initiative`s objectives.
Universal Energy Access
1.3 billion people around the globe - one in five - lack electricity to light their homes or conduct business. Nearly 40% of the world’s population relies on wood, coal, charcoal, or animal waste to cook their food breathing in toxic smoke that causes lung disease and kills nearly two million people a year, most of them women and children. Modern fuels for cooking and heating relieve women inter alia from time-consuming gathering of wood. Electricity enables children to study after dark. It enables water to be pumped for crops, foods and medicines to be refrigerated.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency - getting more out of our existing resources - increases global resource productivity, supports economic growth and reduces costs for all citizens. It creates jobs, fosters economic growth and improves energy security for countries that lack domestic fossil fuel resources. Examples are better refrigerators that cost the same, but use less energy; new vehicle designs that travel further on less fuel and buildings that require less energy to heat and cool. By reducing the energy demand, efficiency also makes renewable energy more affordable (e.g. shrinking the size of the solar panel needed to power a lamp.
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy currently constitutes15% of the global energymix. Renewable energy products and services constitute a rapidly growing segment of the international marketplace. The costs of technologies to capture that energy are rapidly falling and becoming economically competitive with fossil fuels, while reducing the risk of climate change. Increasing the share of energy from renewable sources can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and local pollution.
German interests and participation
Access to energy is an important aspect of German development policy. Renewable energy and energy efficiency are not only beneficial to the countries affected directly, but also on the regions that are affected by the consequences of climate change. The Water-Energy-Food-Nexus developed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is an important contribution to achieve the three objectives. The Innovation and Technology Centre of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Bonn also assumes an important role in this regard.