EU Sustainable Energy Week : UNEP Photo Exhibit at Brussels Midi Station, 23-29 June, 2014 showcasing solutions to power Sustainable Energy for All

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Magnum Photographers chronicle solutions being enacted around the world to power sustainable energy for all

Brussels, 17 June 2014 - In 2013, Magnum Photos and the United Nations Environment Programme teamed up to showcase solutions already being implemented by UNEP and its partners to achieve the three objectives of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative: ensuring universal access to modern energy services; doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. 

The resulting photo exhibition We Have the Power: efficient, renewable, affordable will open at Brussels Midi Station on June 23 as the train station’s newest special exhibition. The photos will be on view until June 29, 2014. 

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Santiago, Chile. Aug. 2013. A shopkeeper lit by led lightbulbs in the Lo Espejo district of Santiago.(Photo Moises Saman/MAGNUM)

UNEP initiated this joint project with Magnum Photos to document the positive impact sustainable energy is having on the lives of many individuals around the world. Magnum Photos sent an international team of five talented photographers to five different countries to document how sustainable energy lights up homes, improves lives and livelihoods, and helps power economies by providing access to clean and reliable energy.

Sustainable energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, social equity and environmental sustainability. Energy powers growth and opportunity.It makes all other development goals possible, from reducing poverty to powering essential health services and providing light for children to learn.

The photographic team included Peruvian Moises Saman, Belgian Bieke Depoorter, Frenchman Jerome Sessini, Norwegian Jonas Bendiksen and Swiss Dominic Nahr. In Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Chile, Burkina Faso and Trinidad and Tobago the photographers created visual stories to demonstrate that many good initiatives have been taken. We need to scale them up. We have the power to make it happen.

This exhibition is part of “SE4ALL project”, supported by the European Commission under the Thematic Programme for Environment and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources including Energy. It is a side event to the EU Sustainable Energy Week 

After closing at Brussels Midi Station, the exhibition will travel during 2014- 2015 in Lima, Paris and New York.

Contacts

Moira O'Brien-Malone, Head, Communications, UNEP Paris. Tel: +33 1 44 37 76 12 or +33 6 82 26 93 73. Email: moira.obrien-malone@unep.org

For more information, please also visit: www.unep.org/energy/

Alexa Froger, UNEP Brussels Office, Tel: +32 2 213 30 59. Email: alexa.froger@unep.org

Press images are available for promotional purposes of the project ONLY.  Please contact: Clément Saccomani, Editorial Director, Magnum Photos Paris. Tel: + 33 1 53 42 50 38 

Email: clement.saccomani@magnumphotos.com

About UNEP

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the voice for the environment in the UN system. Established in 1972, UNEP's mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. UNEP is an advocate, educator, catalyst and facilitator, promoting the wise use of the planet's natural assets for sustainable development. It works with many partners, UN entities, international organizations, national Governments, non-governmental organizations, business, industry, the media and civil society.

UNEP's work involves providing support for: environmental assessment and reporting; legal and institutional strengthening and environmental policy development; sustainable use and management

of natural resources; integration of economic development and environmental protection; and promoting public participation in environmental management.

About Magnum Photos

Magnum Photos is a photographic cooperative of great distinction that is owned by its photographer-members. Acclaimed for their powerful individual vision, Magnum photographers chronicle the world and interpret its people, events, issues and personalities with empathy for their subject matter. Founded at the MoMA after the close of World War II in1947 by the legendary Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and David "Chim" Seymour, Magnum Photos celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2007. Today the agency encompasses over 70 members of extraordinary talent and diversity and reflects a longstanding tradition of individual vision. Through its four editorial offices in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, a digital library of 450,000 images, and a network of 15 subagents, Magnum Photos provides photographs to the press, publishers, advertising, galleries, and museums across the world. Its Cultural Department produces more than 200 exhibitions per year worldwide. By capturing defining moments of the 20th century with iconic images that have shaped our collective memory, Magnum Photos continues to set a standard for photographic integrity and authorship. For more information about Magnum Photos, please visit www.magnumphotos.com