19 June 2012: The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+20) Energy Day convened on 19 June. Organized by UN-Energy, together with the Secretary-General’s High-level Group on Sustainable Energy for All, Energy Day featured 12 interactive sessions with academics, policy makers, business leaders and civil society representatives.

Energy Day included sessions on: achieving sustainable energy for all; commitments to action; financing for energy and sustainable development; country-level actions for energy access; sustainable energy solutions; energy enabling the water and food security Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); energy enabling the health and women’s empowerment MDGs; energy monitoring and planning for sustainable development; local actions to advance sustainable development; energy actions to stimulate innovation and leverage private capital for sustainable energy solutions; and financing actions to scale up from the ground.

Energy Day concluded with the launch of the Global Energy Assessment, an integrated study of the global energy system. The Assessment, available from July 2012, was coordinated by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, and explores 60 alternative energy transformation pathways. According to Ged Davis, Co-President of the GEA, the aspirational goals of the GEA are: stabilizing global climate change to 2ºC above pre-industrial levels; enhancing energy security by diversification and resilience of energy supply; eliminating household and ambient air pollution; and achieving universal access to modern energy services by 2030. [IISD RS Coverage of Energy Day] [Energy Day Programme] [Global Energy Assessment Press Release] [Publication: Global Energy Assessment Executive Summary]