1 September 2009: The World Energy Forum, in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Bank, recently concluded a two-day conference on meeting global energy needs.

The event, which convened at UN headquarters in New York, US, brought together energy experts from the private sector, the UN and World Bank, as well as UN representatives of member States, to discuss: assessing global energy needs; lessons garnered from conventional solutions; renewables; energy in the developing world; integrated solutions; and emergent challenges and opportunities.
In his closing statement, Tariq Banuri, Director of the UN’s Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) within the Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), impressed upon participants the importance of energy poverty as an issue. Banuri urged participants to take advantage of knowledge already at hand and recommended three mechanisms to accomplish this: the creation of further national programs and funding allocation for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other related areas; diffuse transfer of knowledge and technology; and a coordinated program of global renewable energy promotion.
[Event Schedule][Closing Statement]