VIENNA - About 1.2 billion people – almost the population of India – do not have access to electricity, 2.8 billion have to rely on wood or other
biomass to cook and heat their homes, renewable energy accounts for 18 per cent
of the global energy mix, and the largest energy savings and greatest expansion
of renewables happened in China.
These are just some of the findings of a unique new report by a multi-agency
team led by the World Bank. The report, compiled by experts from 15 agencies, is
the first of a series to monitor progress towards the three objectives of the
Sustainable Energy for All initiative, launched in 2011 by United Nations
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The initiative, whose advisory board is
co-chaired by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, is mobilizing a global
coalition of governments, private sector and civil society to achieve, by 2030,
its three objectives of universal access, doubled renewables and doubled energy
efficiency improvement.
