Energy sector is central to the green economy: UN environment chief
Listen /
green energy
The energy sector could be a key player in the transition to a greener economy, according to the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Achim Steiner says renewable energy is increasingly becoming less a question of economics as costs are falling rapidly.
The UNEP Executive Director spoke ahead of a high-level meeting of the UN Secretary-General's Sustainable Energy for All initiative in New York on Monday.
"Since the 1980s the price for wind power has come down by 90 percent compare that to the increase in prices for fossil fuels and you can see how the economics have shifted. You can also look at the price drops that have occurred in the available photovoltaic technologies on the markets today. And just in the last 18 to 20 months we have seen price reductions of 40-50 percent on the world market. The threshold for entering into a renewable energy technology era is coming down almost by the day.” (Duration: 26″)
The Sustainable Energy for All initiative seeks to ensure universal access to modern energy services, as well as double energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy, by the year 2030.
