UN-Energy, in its recently published newsletter, has highlighted UNIDO's Kandeh Yumkella's new leadership for the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Initiative, and other new arrangements for the Initiative including the creation of an Advisory Board and Executive Committee.
9 October 2012: UN-Energy, in its recently published newsletter, has highlighted new leadership for the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Initiative, announcing the UN Secretary-General’s invitation to UN Industrial Development Organization’s (UNIDO) Director-General and Chair of UN-Energy, Kandeh Yumkella, to become the chief executive of the Initiative.
The newsletter further explains that Yumkella has been designated Co-Chair of the Initiative’s Advisory Board alongside World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. The Advisory Board is one of three new arrangements for the Initiative, with the others being the creation of an Executive Committee, chaired by Bank of America Chairman Chad Holliday; and the designation of Yumkella as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for SE4ALL.
In other news, the newsletter highlights the public private partnership between the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and private sector companies including OSRAM AG and Philips Lighting, to produce the en.Lighten Toolkit titled “Achieving the Transition to Energy Efficient Lighting.” This is a coordinated global strategy that seeks to accelerate the market transformation to environmentally sustainable lighting technologies, and phase out inefficient lighting. This in turn contributes to climate change mitigation efforts by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions within the lighting sector.
The UN-Energy newsletter also draws attention to the Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo 2012, a forum to promote South-South solutions. This year’s event, whose theme is “Energy and Climate Change: Inclusive Partnerships for Development,” is set to be hosted by UNIDO and is co-organized by the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (SU-SSC). The Expo is expected to showcase initiatives by developing countries addressing the development challenge.
Finally the newsletter provides an overview of a report by UNEP’s Financial Sector on the Thai Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund (EERF). This Fund strives to overcome barriers within the Thai financial sector in order to stimulate funding for energy efficiency programmes and projects, as well as reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. The goal of the EERF is to interest investment banks in financing energy efficient projects. The report records the achievements of the Thai Government in this regard. [UN-Energy Newsletter] [IISD RS story on en.Lighten Toolkit]