By John Parnell
The head of the IEA has told RTCC that sustainable energy is key to a successful Rio+20 summit but government’s will ultimately determine whether resulting actions are a success.
Commenting on the role sustainable energy has to play in the outcome of this month’s landmark conference on sustainable development, Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the IEA said it was of the utmost importance.
“One in four people don’t have access to electricity,” she told RTCC.
“This access has to be sustainable. Sustainability means it’s always their, it’s reliable, affordable and it also has to be clean. This creates a huge role for renewables.”
With a host of energy technologies being rolled out in developing countries it would appear that we already have the weapons we need to fulfil Ban Ki-moon’s target of Sustainable Energy for All.
However, van der Hoeven said there was another factor more important than the tools themselves.
“A number of the technologies are there and are in an adult phase, but it’s more important that all the government’s have an action plan of how they are going to provide their people with access to this power,” she said.
The high level segment of the Rio+20 Summit runs June 20-22.
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