25 January 2010: The UN Energy and Climate Change Advisory Group met in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to discuss the preparation of the Group’s final report.
The Group, which is chaired by Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), provides UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon advice on energy and climate change. Yumkella is also Chair of UN-Energy, the UN’s system-wide coordinating mechanism on energy issues. The final report being prepared by the Group will include an implementation plan and suggestions for how to move the energy agenda forward in the context of the political realities and opportunities arising from the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.
Yumkella stressed the need to address adequate and reliable supplies of energy within the broader context of national development priorities and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Highlighting the importance of the meeting in Abu Dhabi, he noted that it was “essential in the Group’s efforts to provide a set of recommendations that will assist Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his leadership on climate change and energy issues and the global transition to a sustainable energy future.” [UNIDO Press Release]