5 June 2009: Representatives from the five UN regional commissions, namely the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the UN Economic and Social Commission for East Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (UNESCWA), gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, on 4 June 2009, for the first meeting of the Global Energy Efficiency 21 (GEE21) project.

The GEE21 project was launched at the UNFCCC conference in Poznań, Poland, in December 2008, to share the expertise of UNECE’s Energy Efficiency 21 Project (EE21), which promotes the formation of an energy efficiency market in Eastern Europe so that cost-effective investments can provide a self-financing method of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. GEE21 seeks to foster energy efficiency globally, and promote technology transfer and acquisition through a more systematic exchange of experience on capacity building, policy reforms and investment project financing through the UN regional commissions [UNECE Press Release]