Kandeh Yumkella, DirectorGeneral of the United Nations
Industrial Development Organizations (UNIDO) and Chair
of UN Energy, is a passionate
­advocate for the goals of this
ambitious global initiative.
Sustainable Energy for All
The Third
Industrial
Revolution
“Today, 1.3 billion people have no access to energy.”
“SE4All includes significant profitable opportunities for companies.”
The UN’s Kandeh Yumkella:
bridging the gap between world
perspectives on energy issues.
UN Initiative on Sustainable Energy
Kandeh Yumkella
What goals has SE4All set for itself?
By 2030, the goal is to ensure universal access to modern energy services,
to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency, and to double the share of renewable energy in
the global energy mix.
What makes SE4All so special and
different from other initiatives?
We have a focus on the private sector
and on investment. For 15 years in
the UN, we didn’t discuss energy, because of the geopolitics of oil and gas.
Now we have real discourse between
leaders and CEOs. In addition, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has
put his full political capital behind
this initiative.
Which is the most important goal:
universal energy access, efficiency
or renewables?
They link together. Today, 1.3 billion
people have no access to energy, while
2.7 billion still use biomass for cooking. But bringing them onstream
would be catastrophic without improving energy efficiency and greater use
of renewables. All three are part of
what has been called the “third industrial revolution” – after the first with
steam and the second with electricity.
The United Nations has declared 2012 as the International Year of
­Sustainable Energy for All, recognizing that access to modern energy
­services is “a golden thread running through development” of
emerging countries, and is thus critical to economic and political
­stability ­throughout the world.
T
he global initiative Sustainable
Energy for All (SE4All) was
launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2011 with the
­ultimate aim of achieving three critical
objectives by 2030 (see sidebar page
17). Because SE4All is addressing the
greatest of challenges, real solutions
will only come over many years, but
activities aimed at meeting these challenges have already begun around the
12 Living Energy · No. 7 | November 2012
world. Living Energy’s Daniel Whitaker
sat down in London with Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General of the United
Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Chair of UN Energy,
and Chief Executive of the High-Level
Group on SE4All, for an exclusive interview about what programs and pro­
jects the initiative has already put into
motion – and what it hopes to achieve
in the years ahead.
Photo: UNIDO
Text: Daniel Whitaker Photos: Jocelyn Bain Hogg, Mikhail Evstafiev
Huge funding will be required that
cannot be provided by the World
Bank alone. Where will the money
come from?
It will have to come from both public
and private sources. There is US$9
billion of energy aid annually, but
US$48 billion is needed per year to
ensure universal access. The aid money
must be used to leverage the greater
sum that is needed, just as the World
Bank’s Climate Investment Funds,
which incentivize banks to finance
clean energy, have achieved leverage
factors of four and five times – for
­instance, in transmission in Mexico.
“Poverty is not just ‘their’ problem. It is ‘our’ problem too.
If d
­ eveloping countries collapse,
there will be millions knocking
on our front doors.”
Background
Kandeh Yumkella has been DirectorGeneral of UNIDO since 2005. He was
born on July 5, 1959, in Sierra Leone.
He earned a PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois
(USA) in 1991. He was Minister for
Trade, Industry and State Enterprises
of Sierra Leone from 1994 to 1995.
Professional Experience
Kandeh Yumkella provides a perfect
bridge between the world’s different
perspectives on energy issues.
How does the global economic uncertainty affect the goals of SE4All?
The economic slowdown has increased
political uncertainty, which can make
investment more challenging.
How does SE4All contribute to economic growth – is there a business
case?
SE4All includes significant profitable
opportunities for companies. New
­energy can also mean new jobs. In
2011, 71 percent of all new energy investment in the EU was in renewables.
Growth is shifting to the BRICs, and
they also recognize the opportunities
in clean energy. The Chinese and
•His home nation is endowed with
natural resources, but is also one of
the world’s poorest.
•China has made him a member of its
Council of International Cooperation
on Environment and Development,
as well as an Honorary Distinguished
Visiting Professor at the Shanghai
Institute of Foreign Trade.
•After studying in the USA, he now
works in Vienna, home of OPEC.
•Beyond UNIDO, he also chairs UN
Energy, the UN’s coordination body
dealing with energy.
­ razilian national development banks
B
are in our High-Level Group, together
with the Bank of America and Munich
Re. The development banks in particular can look beyond quarterly results
to the long term, but we will also need
commercial banks and pension funds.
What can the private sector (such
as utilities, grid operators, technology providers, service companies,
and the readers of this magazine)
do to help make SE4All a success?
Companies should look imaginatively
at how they can address three sources
of demand: from populations without
access to modern energy; the need to
Living Energy · No. 7 | November 2012 13
UN Initiative on Sustainable Energy
Commitment to Sustainable Energy
Where do you see the major barriers for achieving the 2030 goals,
and how can we overcome them?
Politicians may not naturally adapt
to the long-term approach. They deal
in sound bites, and their natural horizon is the electoral cycle. To address
this, we must also engage with the
sub­national level – cities and regions.
By taking it local, job opportunities
will be better recognized.
reduce carbon emissions; and the incentive for greater energy efficiency.
Almost every company will find it has
resources that are valuable. This could
include databases and expertise – for
example, wind mapping or solar radiation mapping.
What has SE4All achieved so far?
Can you give concrete examples for
commitments?
We are meeting goals earlier than
­expected, with funding continuing to
flow. Business and investors committed more than US$50 billion towards
the initiative’s three objectives. More
than 50 governments from Africa,
Asia, Latin America, and the Small
­Islands Developing States have signed
up to participate.
How will the initiative keep
­momentum?
Rio+20 has given us an impetus in
­leveraging aid funds. But establishing
accountability will be important. Not
through sanctions, but by illuminating successes and shaming failures.
An institution must be created to
manage this.
“Energy is the golden
thread running through
development.”
14 Living Energy · No. 7 | November 2012
Kandeh Yumkella
In front of world leaders
gathered at the Rio+20
­environmental conference
in June, UN Secretary-­
General Ban Ki-moon announced that over 100
­commitments and actions
had been agreed in support
of the Sustainable Energy
for All (SE4All) initiative.
This, ­together with the substantial nature of many of
the projects, shows that
there is ­already something
of a groundswell of support
for SE4All from its target
­stakeholders: governments,
the private sector, and
­civil ­society.
What should be said to climate
skeptics, and to those who want to
spend less on aid to the poorest
countries?
On climate change, we don’t want
to scare you. Come to our side and look
at the business opportunities. But
SE4All’s work matters, because it is
estimated that 60 to 70 percent of
greenhouse gases are due to energy
activities.
On aid, they should consider that it
is the lack of growth in these countries
that drives emigration, instability,
and terrorism. On the positive side,
if we can generate new poles of growth,
then this creates demand for exports.
Let’s change Africa to cultivate Asianstyle “green shoots.”
How should the cost of sustainable
energy be shared between countries?
We need to recognize which respon­
sibilities are common, and which differentiated. I have been involved in
this for five years, and we have always
sought to avoid finger-pointing.
What are the ingredients of successful public-private partnerships?
The private sector must have confidence that the government will put
resources on the table. You need TLC:
transparent, long-term, and consistent policy. Five-year plans are helpful, though the first two years are the
vital ones, because that is when you
prove yourself. But the overall u
Photos: Mikhail Evstafiev/UNIDO, UN Photo/JC McIlwaine, Siemens
On a visit to Norway, Kandeh Yumkella (center, facing) views a Statoil platform.
Ban Ki-moon
“This initiative is already
mobilizing significant
­action from all sectors of
society. Working together, we can provide solutions that drive economic
growth, expand equity,
and reduce the risks of
climate change. This initiative shows the power
of partnership and ability
of the United Nations to
spearhead transformational change.”
Ban Ki-Moon,
UN Secretary-General
The UN now estimates that
more than a billion people
are likely to benefit from
the public and private sector commitments by SE4All,
which was launched only in
September 2011. Most beneficiaries are those in developing countries who will
gain improved access to energy through grid extension and off-grid solutions,
though greater use of renewable energy sources and
improved energy policies
will help many, too.
Governments and
­Businesses Highly
Committed
SE4All has now signed up
more than 50 governments
from Africa, Asia, Latin
America, and the Small Islands Developing States.
They are engaging with the
initiative and are developing energy plans and programs. Tens of billions of
dollars have also been committed by governments,
multilateral development
banks, and international
and civil society organizations to help deliver the
goals of the initiative.
But perhaps most striking
has been that businesses
and investors have committed over US$50 billion towards the initiative’s three
objectives. This sort of private sector interaction
marks newer territory for
the UN. The SE4All team
sees its role as convening
the stakeholders, facilitating project discussions, and
matching potential governmental, corporate, and civil
society partners. But the
only proof of success is if
stakeholders engage and
commit to the financing
and execution of projects.
Siemens’
Commitment
Among the businesses,
­Siemens has stepped forward to become an important SE4All stakeholder,
with the UN recently congratulating the company on
its “notable commitment.”
Through its broad portfolio
in renewables, energy efficiency, and environmental
technologies, Siemens technologies have contributed
to reduce its customers’
carbon footprint by 317 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2011. Siemens reinforces its commitment to
grow its externally verified
Environmental Portfolio
from currently €29.9 billion
to €40 billion in 2014, thus
contributing to the UN
SE4All goals in more than
180 countries, reaching
more than 6.5 billion people.
“Sustainable development
requires cooperation
and we are committed to
make our contribution.
The good news is: We
have the technologies in
our hands and they are
already available today.
Our Environmental Portfolio addresses 37 percent of the global potential to reduce CO2
emissions. Sustainability
continues to be a big
business opportunity for
Siemens.”
Barbara Kux, Member
of the Board of Directors,
­Siemens AG
Nigeria
One of the settings for
­Siemens’ involvement is
Siemens’ Environmental Portfolio
In fiscal 2011, revenue
from the portfolio totaled
about €30 billion, making
Siemens one of the world’s
largest suppliers of ecofriendly technologies. In
the same period, the products and solutions enabled
customers to reduce their
CO2 emissions by an amount
equal to the total annual
emissions of Berlin, Delhi,
Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, New York, Singapore,
and Tokyo.
Barbara Kux
­Nigeria. In April 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan
and Minister of Power Bart
Nnaji visited the Siemens
gas turbine factory in Berlin.
They signed an agreement
for strategic partnership,
under which Siemens will
help finance power plants in
Nigeria.
Siemens will also build a
service workshop for gas
turbines in Nigeria and
study the integration of
­renewables into the coun-
UN Initiative on Sustainable Energy
Siemens’ Project
in Mexico
Another example of
Siemens’ commitment to
the objectives of SE4All can
be seen across the Atlantic
with the “Luz cerca de todos” (which translates as:
“Light close to all”) project
in Mexico. This is located
in the hard-to-access highlands of the state of Querétaro. Some 30,000 people
there still live without access either to the electricity
grid or to running water,
with some spending 40 percent of their income on
­batteries and candles. Light
and power are rare commodities, handicapping
­activities such as reading,
receiving information from
­radio or television, and
­refrigeration. As a result,
educational levels are low.
The situation has changed
in the small town of Adjuntitas Dos, where lights now
come on at the flick of a
switch in the dining room
of farmer ­Artemio Juárez.
His house has been
equipped with Siemens
­solar power systems as part
of “Luz cerca de todos.”
­Adjuntitas Dos and other
villages now have off-grid
­electricity.
The Siemens project brings
light to the people, as well
as significant financial
­savings and an increase in
schooling. The company
covered the €230,000 in
project costs and oversaw
the installation of the solar
systems.
Further Examples:
­Microsoft, Bank of
America, TERI
Siemens is far from being
alone in showing a positive
example in the corporate
sector of SE4All. Microsoft,
for example, has committed
to becoming a carbon-neutral organization. As part of
this it will roll out an internal carbon fee within its operations in over 100 countries. By putting a price on
carbon, Microsoft aims to
incentivize better efficiency
in its data centers and
­ lanning horizon should be 50 years.
p
If you fail to sustain the momentum,
then it becomes just sloganeering.
But PPPs are beginning to work well –
we’ve changed the narrative from
fear to hope.
16 Living Energy · No. 7 | November 2012
buildings, increase procurement of renewable
­energy, and reduce travelrelated emissions. The Bank
of America has also set a
ten-year US$50 billion environmental business goal.
Based on historical performance, the bank conservatively estimates that this
should equate to approximately US$35 billion in
SE4All’s focus areas.
In India, the Energy and
­Resources Institute (TERI)
has announced an ambitious plan to expand lighting services to households
in several developing countries, using solar and other
clean-energy technologies.
This is expected to affect an
estimated 10 million people
by 2018. Commitment has
even come from the world
of music, for instance from
Grammy-Award-winning
band Linkin Park, who became involved in energy
­access programs in Haiti
and Uganda and launched
the campaign “Power the
World.”
And how much of a difference
will demographic shifts make?
Population growth will be a major
­future influence on events, especially
in Africa. It will create major infrastructure needs and may generate
new political instability. China, in particular, is stepping in to meet these
needs – for example, with roads and
hydropower. Several countries’ governments are showing a changing
mindset, including support for manufacturing, such as in Kenya, Ghana,
and Côte d’Ivoire.
Dave Farrell
Everyone can do something to achieve the
­initiative’s objectives.”
Dave “Phoenix” Farrell,
bass player, Linkin Park
One more positive gesture
came from Rio+20’s host
government, that of Brazil,
which pledged to invest
US$4.3 billion to achieve
universal energy access
within its frontiers by 2014.
It also committed to invest
an additional US$235 billion
over ten years in renewable
energy, mainly hydropower
and biofuels, and to produce total energy savings of
9 percent in 2030 within
the electrical and transport
sectors.
Solar, wind, tidal, biomass –
which is most exciting?
All forms of renewable energy will
play increasing roles. Each gives opportunities to generate power into
grids in a way that is both more flexible and more decentralized. At the
same time, power grids are becoming
more integrated, which will help improve efficiency. Diversifying across
different renewable technologies also
helps – for example, having both wind
and solar power gives a system the
ability to perform well in a wider range
of weather environments.
“Achieving sustainable
energy for all is something that everyone can
be involved in, and that’s
why we are eager to
bring our millions of music and social media fans
into this conversation.
Is competition important in energy?
Certainly, but we must create facilities
to “de-risk” investments – such as
geothermal and wind opportunities in
Kenya. Governments cannot guarantee returns to all companies as sovereign debt would skyrocket, so we need
the banks to help do this.
How much difference will carbon
trading make?
I put a lot of hope in it. Pricing is a
powerful mechanism, though it must
be global. But you need a suite of policies – no single measure will work
alone.
Can you give an example of recent
progress with renewable?
In 2011, investment in clean energy
from G20 nations rose to US$263 billion, a 6.5 percent increase from 2010
and a whopping 600 percent increase
from 2004. The installed capacity for
renewable power of clean energy also
soared to 565 gigawatts, in large part
due to the fact that many clean technologies, including wind and solar, are
becoming more and more cost-competitive.
Photo: James Minchin
try’s oil-dominated energy
mix. More gas power will
reduce carbon emissions.
And extra generation will
extend electricity access to
millions of Nigerians.
Nigerian company Scanpower and Siemens will
build a 1,600-megawatt gas
turbine power station in
­Lagos state.
Siemens has already delivered gas turbines for the
power stations Afam V and
Geregu I. Geregu Phase II is
currently under construction and is expected to deliver electricity to the grid
­before the end of the year.
There are many other issues on the
UN’s agenda – health, water, education. Is energy really that important?
We have clearly demonstrated that
­energy reform is needed to meet
many of the Millennium Development
Goals. Energy is the golden thread
running through development. p
Sustainable Energy for All
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon himself launched the Sustainable
Energy for All (SE4All) initiative in 2011. Business, governments, and civil
society alike are encouraged to participate.
The SE4All initiative aims to achieve three objectives by 2030
•Providing universal
­access to modern energy services
• Doubling the global rate of improvement in energy
efficiency (to 2.4 ­percent annually)
•Doubling the share of ­renewable energy in the global
energy mix (to 30 percent)
To meet the criteria of this initiative, sustainable energy must be:
•Cleaner and more efficient, in tune with environmental concerns
•Better shared with the almost 2 billion people who lack access to any
modern energy services
The UN teams up with private corporations to reduce poverty
However, the initiative does not appeal to altruism alone, but focuses
on “greater prosperity for all,” which also includes the economic opportunity of developing sustainability in the world’s energy use. The response
from the business world has been encouraging to date. Charles Holliday,
Chairman of the Bank of America, is Co-Chair of the Secretary-General’s
High-Level Group on SE4All. Corporate involvement has been crucial for
many of the successes of SE4All.
How can companies and
civil ­society engage?
sustainableenergyforall.org
Daniel Whitaker is a freelance technology and
business writer who divides his time between
the UK and Spain. His work has appeared in the
Financial Times, the Times, and the Economist,
among others.
Living Energy · No. 7 | November 2012 17