Greentech Lead Europe: The European Union will invest a
50 million euro for clean energy projects in developing countries.
This is part of an ambitious UN plan to provide
sustainable energy for all by 2030.
EU will mobilize support of up to several hundred million
euros to provide access to sustainable energy services to 500 million people by
2030. EU commission announced this initiative at the EU energy summit in
Brussels, according to a report in Guardian.
“We should seek to provide support to developing
countries committing to the initiative, with the aim of providing access to
sustainable energy services to 500 million people by 2030,” said Jose
Manuel Barroso, president, EU commission.
The UN Development Progamme (UNDP) estimates that about
1.5 billion people worldwide, more than one in five is facing lack electricity.
By 2030, the move to clean energy taking in mitigation and adaptation costs
will cost between $249 billion and $1,371 billion annually.
The EU energising development initiative will focus on
expanding and improving EU innovative financial instruments. This could include
support to develop public-private partnerships on energy access in developing
countries or setting up risk guarantee schemes in developing countries with a
bank.
“For example, we are working with the European
Investment Bank on new risk guarantee schemes in developing countries, which
have the potential to leverage enormous investments by providing investors with
the certainty that today hinders the realization of many, otherwise profitable,
projects,” Barroso added.
The EU commission will focus on refining, expanding and
improving innovative financial instruments to make sure that these billions
leverage extraordinary change. The commission anticipates this could
potentially result in substantial investments, as it would provide investors
with some assurance that their money is secure.
Under its recent agenda for change, EU confirmed energy
as a key priority. The European commission has spent approximately 1billion
euro over the past five years on improving the state of the energy sector in
developing countries, including efforts to increase access to modern energy
services.
“I welcome the commitment by the European commission
in support of the sustainable energy for all initiative. Its strong leadership
in making energy central to its development policies, and for advancing the
issue of energy access, helps place energy at the forefront of the global
development agenda,” said Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.
China, EU collaborate on water management and urbanization
challenges
Recently, China and the European Union signed a contract
to establish a new platform for sharing experiences in water management to
address the increasing challenges of urbanization and climate change.
editor@greentechlead.com