How do we turn the lights on for a billion people?

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In light of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Achim Steiner, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), has written an article in which he highlights the relation between clean energy and reliable electricity on the one hand, and sustainable development on the other:

“Many of us live in a world where real darkness has become a novelty. The city-dwellers of the world - more than 54% of the global population, according to the UN’s Department of Social and Economic Affairs - are less likely to have seen starlight than a street light. But for about one in seven people, the opposite is true. According to the World Bank, 1.1 billion people, most of whom live in developing regions of Asia and Africa, still lack access to reliable electricity. This absence creates profound challenges for societies and economies. It is an impediment to education, business and community building. A lack of electricity is a fundamental obstacle to sustainable development.”

Furthermore, Mr. Steiner refered to the announcement from the EU and G7 countries that a cumulative US10$billion would be pledged to the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), which creates "huge potential to bring clean electricity to those 600 million people on the African continent without."

You can find Mr. Steiner's full article on the World Economic Forum's website, here: http://bit.ly/1OJ2hIU