Why Universal Energy Access is Key to Progress on Climate

by Katherine Gustafson · 2009-12-23 06:00:00 UTC
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"Universal energy access" is a shorter and more official way of saying "don't leave the poor behind as we rich nations ride off into a clean-energy future." It's more than a matter of fairness. UN officials stated in one of the sessions at the Copenhagen conference that any agreement the world comes to on climate change will only work if the poor are given access to the technology they need to get with the program, and soon, according to SciDevNet.

Sha Zukang, under-secretary general for economic and social affairs, said that excluding people from clean technology because of expense or intellectual property restrictions will only serve to complicate the dynamics of reaching a solution that will work.

Billions of people in the developing world will be left behind and plunged deeper into poverty if they are shut out, which will serve not only to stall progress on clean energy use but will stir resentment among those who are losing out on development opportunities.

Kandeh K. Yumkella, director-general of UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), however, warned that developing countries should not assume that "renewables will solve all energy problems. We need to be realistic about an energy mix."

Such a mix, however, should involve a far larger percentage of clean technology than it currently does. Yumkella pointed out that development agencies can't expect to stick a couple solar panels in a poor community and proclaim the end of the problem. The solution must be more subtle and comprehensive than that.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

Katherine Gustafson
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