The UN Secretary General on Friday called on world leaders to engage much more heavily in clean energy in order to fight climate change while ensuring access to energy for the poorest.

"We have a double imperative: to put an end to energy poverty and limit climate change", declared Antonio Guterres on the occasion of the High Level Dialogue on Energy organized on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

And there is a solution: clean energy.

$ 400 billion to fight climate change

Several states, organizations and companies must detail their roadmap in this area on Friday, in “Energy Compacts” totaling more than $ 400 billion.

These commitments, most of which are already known, aim both to work on technologies such as hydrogen and to extend access to electricity and to non-polluting cooking processes in emerging countries.

According to the UN, nearly 760 million people worldwide do not have access to electricity and about 2.6 billion do not cook with clean energy.

At the same time, emissions from energy account for 75% of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Investing in clean and affordable energy for all will improve the well-being of billions of people,” said Antonio Guterres at the start of this High Level Dialogue, the first dedicated to energy in forty years.

Progress, but too slow

"Last year, the share of renewable energies in global electricity production rose to 29%," said the official.

And "in most countries, solar photovoltaic is now the cheapest source of energy."

But progress is still too slow, says Antonio Guterres.

By 2025, the number of people without access to electricity should be halved and clean solutions provided to cook for 1 billion people, he said.

To decarbonize energies, solar and wind energies should be quadrupled by 2030 and, as of this year, stop building coal-fired power stations.

Another objective: to triple investments in renewable energies and energy savings to 5,000 billion dollars per year, for example by using fossil fuel subsidies for renewables.

All these investments must be accompanied by training in new renewable trades and social protection for those affected by the energy transition.

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