UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has declared 2012 the year of ‘Sustainable Energy for All’.

Ban Ki-moon hopes that the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio+20, being held in June 2012 will mobilize support for clean energy investment among governments, civil society, communities and the private sector. There are there objectives to the initiative:

• Ensuring universal access to modern energy services
• Doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency
• Doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix

Ban Ki-moon argues that the initiative is a clear pathway to achieve the planet’s sustainable development goals within the existing regime; cutting through all three pillars, economic, environmental and social.

Central to the initiative is the role of the private sector – leaders of business and industry are expected to contribute by making their companies and practices and supply chains more efficient, and by joining in public-private partnerships to expand the deployment of sustainable energy products and services. To ensure these are successful the levels of investment in ‘clean energy’ have to increase and these investments have to go to the right place.

The UN Global Compact is looking at the different ways in which voluntary contributions from business can be incentivised, and in collaboration with Accenture is building a ‘framework for action’ for business to mobilize, with commitments linked to the three goals of the Sustainable energy for all initiative. The framework will identify and shape the role of business in achieving the 2030 targets based on three modes of engagement that are enabled through partnerships and collective actions: (1) core business, (2) social investments and philanthropy, (3) advocacy and public policy engagement.

IPIECA attended a panel discussion on ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ on 16 December 2011 in New York City, USA co-hosted by the UN Missions of Mexico, Republic of Korea and Denmark in partnership with the UN Global Compact. A report is available for members. Members will need to login first before they can access the report.