14 February 2011: UN-Energy held a retreat on 10-11 February 2011, in Vienna, Austria, to define the group’s priorities in preparation for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio 2012). The highlights of the retreat are reported in the weekly newsletter of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) for the period 14-18 February 2011.

UN-Energy comprises 20 UN agencies, programmes and organizations, including the five Regional Commissions. It was established in 2004 to helps ensure system-wide coherence in the implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development’s (WSSD) energy-related decisions.

The retreat was convened by UNIDO and sought to “unify the UN family working in the energy field and to enhance cooperation between the UN and key external stakeholders.” Participants stated their commitment to concentrating on the achievement of the two energy-related goals identified in 2010 by the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change. The two goals were to achieve universal energy access, and reduce global energy intensity by 40% by 2030.

UN-Energy will bring these goals forward at the 17th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Durban, South Africa, at the end of 2011, and at the UNCSD in Brazil in 2012. [UNECE Weekly, Issue 411] [UN-Energy] [Rio 2012: Making it Happen]