Attaining Energy, Water
and Food Security for All: Plenary Session
on Rethinking Development
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General
and UNEP Executive Director addresses the
14th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit
6 February 2014, New
Delhi - Dr Ajay Mathur, Chair of the session,
Director-General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency,
India
Dr Kandeh K Yumkella, Special Representative
of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable
Energy for All & Chief Executive Officer
of the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative
Fellow Panelists, distinguished
guests, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a privilege to
speak to you this afternoon at this distinguished
gathering.
Over the past thirteen
years, the Delhi Sustainable Development
Summit has emerged as a pioneering platform
to share ideas and enhance understanding
of global sustainability.
And this year, as the
world works toward a Post-2015 agenda, the
Delhi summit provides an opportune moment
to rethink development and to weigh the
options, opportunities and challenges ahead.
Rethinking Sustainability
In 2000, UN Member States
agreed on a bold vision for the future that
reaffirmed the fundamental values of freedom,
equality, tolerance, respect for the planet
and shared responsibility.
The Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) gave expression to the vision
that: through a combination of targets,
investment, collective action and political
will, countries and societies working together
could end poverty and achieve sustainable
development.
It is true that in the
last decade or so, the very concept (and
our experience) of sustainable development
has evolved - sculpted by successes, failures,
lessons learnt and knowledge gained.
The Post-2015 SDGs need
to be an embodiment of that evolution.
At Rio+20, the international
community agreed to work on a new set of
universal sustainable development goals
(SDGs) to address environmental, social
and economic sustainability in a way that
is more cohesive, focused and measureable.
A well-designed Post-2015
agenda - which factors in the interrelations
between the pillars of sustainability -
has the potential to empower the least developed
and developing countries to leapfrog some
of the stages of development, armed with
collective knowledge and know-how.
Focusing investment
and policy reforms on interlinked challenges
and opportunities can have significant positive
impacts on broader development aspirations.
Attaining energy, water,
food security for all
Speaking to the theme
of this year's Summit: Energy, Water, Food
Security for all, I would like to address
the relevance of these themes to the Post-2015
agenda from a Green Economy perspective.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Moving the world's 1.2
billion poorest to a life of dignity for
all will require financing, innovation,
technology transfer and capacity building,
along with effective governance and mutually
beneficial partnerships at the local, national,
regional and global levels.
This will depend on
the equitable access to basic goods and
services.
It will also depend
on our ability to build natural and social
resilience to withstand a changing environment
and on strengthening the natural resource
base that underpins development.
But unsustainable growth
paths continue to put pressure on an already
stretched environment.
Addressing the Energy
Challenge
Sustainable energy is
key to achieving sustainable development.
Clean, efficient and reliable energy options
are indispensable for a sustainable future
for all with multiple co-benefits for development,
human health, environment and climate change.
In today's fast-developing
world:
•Over 1.2 billion people
- almost the population of India - don't
have access to electricity.
•2.8 billion rely on wood or other biomass
to cook and heat their homes, causing millions
of deaths each year as a result of indoor
air pollution.
•About 80 per cent of those without access
to modern energy live in rural areas.
•Although 1.7 billion people gained access
to electricity between 11000 and 2010, this
is only slightly ahead of population growth
of 1.6 billion over the same period.
Energy from renewable
resources: bioenergy, geothermal, hydro,
ocean, solar, wind - is local, clean, inexhaustible
and free. In 2012, more than half of total
new electricity generating capacity came
from renewable sources.
By 2030, the share of
renewable energy in the global energy mix
will need to grow to 36 per cent, up from
18 per cent in 2010.
Energy efficiency improves
energy security, reduces greenhouse gas
emissions and increases productivity.
Between 11000 and 2010,
improvements in energy efficiency have cut
over 25 per cent from cumulative global
energy demand.
Meanwhile, energy efficiency
rates should double by 2035, otherwise energy-related
CO2 emissions will increase by around 20
per cent, according to World Bank estimates.
In this context, I would
like to highlight one important example:
If a global transition
to efficient lighting occurred, CO2 emissions
could be significantly reduced. This is
because electricity for lighting accounts
for approximately 15 per cent of global
power consumption and 5 per cent of worldwide
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Through the en.lighten
initiative, UNEP and the GEF help countries
accelerate market transformation to efficient
lighting technologies.
This transformation
would yield annual cost savings of over
US$140 billion and would can achieve annual
CO2 reductions of 580 million tones - more
than the emissions of the entire United
Kingdom.
A country such as India,
for example, could cut its lighting electricity
consumption by over 35 percent, which is
equivalent to avoiding the construction
of 11 large coal-fired power plants and
taking over 10 million cars off the road.
Annual savings would be over USD $2 billion.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The decisions we take
today on how we produce, consume, and distribute
energy will profoundly influence our ability
to eradicate poverty, support sustainable
development opportunities and respond effectively
to climate change.
Addressing these challenges
is beyond the sole reach of governments,
it will take the active engagement of all
sectors of society including local communities,
civil society and the private sector.
Water
The mismanagement of
water, this most vital of resources, is
not only constraining development potential,
but it is threatening the survival of life
on earth.
Currently, more than
2 billion people live in countries with
absolute water scarcity. The number is expected
to rise to 4.6 billion by 2080.
Feeding a planet of
9 billion by 2050 will require approximately
50 per cent more water by 2050.
The World Bank says
that in a 4°Celsius warmer world, water
stress will increase even further. The roughly
1 billion people living in monsoonal basins
and the 500 million people living in deltas
are especially vulnerable.
Poorer countries, which
contributed the least to climate change,
will be the ones most affected.
Research suggests that
with current practices, the world will face
a 40 per cent global shortfall between forecast
demand and available water supplies by 2030.
But on a brighter note,
studies show that governments are already
taking steps to improve the management of
water resources.
In a survey of 130 countries
carries out by UNEP and partners, it was
reported that over 80 per cent of countries
have reformed their water laws in the past
twenty years as a response to growing pressures
on water resources from expanding populations,
urbanization and climate change.
In many cases, such
water reforms produces significant impacts
on development, including improvements to
drinking water access, human health and
water efficiency in agriculture.
But global progress
has been slower where irrigation, rainwater
harvesting and investment in freshwater
ecosystem services are concerned.
Food Security
By 2050 the Earth will
need to feed 9 billion people with the same
amount of land, water and natural resources.
This means that agricultural production
alone must increase by 70 per cent, according
to World Bank figures.
A 70 per cent expansion
in agricultural production cannot follow
a business as usual scenario and still be
sustainable. Agriculture already accounts
for more than two thirds of the world's
freshwater use and is a contributor to deforestation.
Healthy Ecosystems underpin
sustained and sufficient food production.
Biodiversity and ecosystems deliver crucial
services to humankind, estimated to be worth
close to USD $72 trillion annually.
In order to ensure that
food production is increased to meet the
demands of the additional 2.6 billion people
expected to inhabit the planet by 2050,
it is important that food producing ecosystems
are protected and degraded ecosystems are
restored.
Meanwhile, about one-third
of all food produced worldwide, worth around
US$1 trillion, gets lost or wasted in food
production and consumption systems
This is more than the
total net food production of Sub-Saharan
Africa, and would be sufficient to feed
the estimated 870 million hungry in today's
world.
The global food system
has profound implications for the environment,
and producing more food than is consumed
only exacerbates the pressures.
Sustainable Production
and Consumption
It is crystal clear
that to bring about the vision of a truly
sustainable world, we need to transform
the way we produce and consume our natural
resources.
Sustainable production
and consumption can yield interlinked economic,
social and health benefits, including greater
access to markets, social innovation, job
creation and empowerment.
Sustainable consumption
is not necessarily about consuming less.
It is about consuming better - in an intelligent
and environmentally sustainable way.
Living within the capacity
of earth's support system
Ladies and gentlemen,
The well-being of humanity
and the functioning of the economy and society
ultimately depend upon the responsible management
of the planet's finite natural resources.
Living within the Earth's
safe operating space safeguards humanity
from crossing ecological or social thresholds
that could undermine or even reverse development
gains.
Improving natural capital,
social capital and the built environment
is about creating space to reduce future
liabilities and provide for the needs of
today and future generations through sustained
long-term development.
To achieve sustainable
development without crossing ecological
thresholds, countries will need to transition
to a low carbon economy, to adopt sustainable
consumption and production patters, to become
more resource efficient and to decouple
economic growth from the over-exploitation
of natural resources.
Enabling the transition
to an inclusive Green Economy
In the wake of the global
financial crisis, there is growing recognition
that the financial system must be not only
sound and stable, but also sustainable in
the way it enables the transition to a low-carbon,
green economy.
World Economic Forum
estimates suggest that globally, investment
in infrastructure of an estimated USD $6
trillion annually to 2030 is needed to deliver
a low-carbon economy.
Of this, nearly US$1
trillion is over and above the business-as-usual
trajectory. Such evidence shows that when
investments are targeted towards greening
key economic sectors, they can produce multiple
benefits for the economy, environment and
society.
I launched in Davos
last month an Inquiry into policy options
for guiding the global financial system
to invest in the transition to a green economy.
The Inquiry aims to
engage, inform and guide policy makers,
financial market actors and other stakeholders
concerned with the health of the financial
system and its potential for shaping the
future economy.
The Inquiry extends
UNEP's ground-breaking work on the green
economy, and draws on the commitment and
wealth of practical expertise of the 200
financial institutional members of the UNEP
Finance Initiative (UNEPFI).
Monitoring progress:
Beyond GDP
Ladies and gentlemen,
The monitoring process
for the MDGs taught us important lessons
on how to maintain focus on internationally
agreed development goals and targets, while
keeping the world informed of achievements,
challenges and emerging issues.
Strong monitoring and
accountability will be crucial for the implementation
of the Post-2015 agenda.
A meaningful SDGs framework
will embrace the need to move beyond GDP
to a more comprehensive accounting of wealth.
Measures of quality
of life, social protection, security and
natural capital valuation must be taken
into account.
So, I say it is time
to call time on the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) as a measure of prosperity in the
21st century.
GDP is far too silent
on key measures of human well-being, namely,
social issues and the state of a nation's
natural resources.
In the lead up to Rio+20
UNEP worked with partners, including the
UN University, to introduce the Inclusive
Wealth Indicator (IWI) as one alternative
measure of sustainable development.
Wealth accounting, the
concept behind the IWI, draws up a balance
sheet for nations and shows countries where
their wealth lies.
By taking into account
a wide array of capital assets a nation
has at its disposal to secure society's
well-being, it presents a more comprehensive
picture and informs policy makers on the
importance of maintaining their nation's
capital base for future generations.
The IWI is among a range
of potential replacements which world leaders
can consider as a way of bringing great
precision to assessing wealth generation
in order to realize sustainable development
and eradicate poverty.
It is a crucial first
step in changing the global economic paradigm
by forcing us to reassess our needs and
goals as a global society.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The needs of the world, encompassed in the
Post-2015 agenda, require a more integrated
approach that tackles sustainable development
targets coherently and comprehensively.
The time has come for
the world to agree on an integrated set
of SDGs that embed the relevant targets
and indicators of the MDGs with environmental
goals and key international commitments.
As an international
community, we will then need to go further
toward balancing the economic, social and
environmental dimensions in a way that is
inspirational, inclusive and universal.
Thank you.
