Rio+20

Rio+20: Wanted Sustainable Energy for All - In Europe, when children need to study after dark, they switch on the lights. When we are sick, we go to a doctor’s office or hospital, where electricity powers the equipment. When we go to our offices and shops in the morning, we turn on the lights, computers, coffee makers and printers. (Andris Piebalgs and Kandeh Yumkella, IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint)

Ahead of meeting, Ban urges public to vote on solutions to achieve ‘the future we want’ - Ahead of a major conference on sustainable development, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on people around the world to cast their votes in an online global poll on solutions to the planet’s most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges. (UN News Centre)

Young People Know What's at Stake at UN Rio Conference: Their Future - Some of these questions will be answered two weeks from now at the United Nation’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. This gathering of heads of state, environmental leaders, corporate executives, and activists has the power to shape what kind of future we create. That’s why young people must make their voices heard in Rio. (Frances Beinecke, NRDC Switchboard)

Rio+20 must result in ‘concrete’ decisions to advance sustainable development – Ban - With just two weeks until the start of a major United Nations sustainable development conference, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged countries to step up efforts to achieve concrete decisions to reduce poverty while promoting decent jobs, clean energy and more sustainable and fair use of resources. (UN News Centre)

Rio+20 can inspire leaders, spur progress – World Bank - The upcoming Rio+20 meeting on the environment could inspire a new generation of leaders to take a greener, longer-term view of development, said World Bank Vice President Rachel Kyte in an online chat on World Environment Day. (Ghana Business News)

U.N. sounds environment alarm ahead of Rio summit - Population growth, urbanization and consumption are set to inflict irreversible damage on the planet, the United Nations said on Wednesday, and called for urgent agreement on new green targets to save the environment. (Reuters)

Energy access

Reconciling Sustainable Development and Climate Change - The international climate summit, COP17, in November/December 2011 and the upcoming sustainable development conference, Rio+20, from 20-22 June, highlight key national choices that will help determine the fate of the planet and its people. (Anna Azarch, All Africa)

Incentives Watch: Small Businesses Seek Access to Renewable Energy Incentives - As states offer more and more renewable energy tax incentives, small businesses are seeking to take advantage of the situation by getting into the renewable energy business. (Kathleen Caggiano, Bloomberg BNA)

Energy efficiency

Free Energy Efficiency Tools for World Environment Day - On World Environment Day, June 5, Johnson Controls, a global leader in delivering solutions that increase energy efficiency in buildings, launches Driving Transformation to Energy Efficient Buildings: Policies and Actions. (EDC Magazine)

Solar energy plane completes maiden intercontinental trip - A solar energy plane landed in Morocco on Tuesday, completing the world's first intercontinental flight powered by the sun to show the potential for renewable-energy air travel. (The Guardian)

Ethiopia: Four Companies Inch to Seal U.S.$16 Million Contract By Energy Ministry - Around four companies are on the verge of being awarded a 16-million dollar project to supply 25,000 rural households across Ethiopia with solar powered electricity once the World Bank gives its stamp of approval. (Elleni Araya, All Africa)

Consumption driving environment damage: UN - Population growth and unsustainable consumption are driving Earth towards "unprecedented" environmental destruction, the UN said in a report Wednesday ahead of the Rio Summit. (AFP)

Sustainable energy policy

Green energy needs milestones to grow -EU Commission - Europe must agree 2030 milestones as soon as possible to spur investment in renewable energy, or green power growth will fizzle once firm policy runs out in 2020, the European Commission said on Wednesday in its latest strategy statement. (Reuters)

House Bill Takes a Scythe to Spending - President Obama’s energy-efficiency and renewable energy efforts would be gutted, along with international climate change programs. And regulations to force new efficiency standards in federal buildings would be blocked. (Jonathan Weisman, The New York Times)

UN Environment Programme names its ‘2012 Champions of the Earth’ winners - A country president, a banker, an aeronaut, a scientist, a renewable energy businessman and a conservationist were today named as the six winners of the United Nations Champions of the Earth 2012 award, given to those whose actions and leadership have had a positive impact on the environment. (UN News Centre)

Renewable energy

Rio+20: Exploring the livelihood and environmental impacts of biofuels in the tropics – The economic and climate mitigation promises of biofuel expansion into tropical forests and woodlands are often elusive; in some cases land users struggle to reconstruct their livelihoods following displacement, while in others land use change may lead to the release of large amounts of carbon emissions that are difficult to reverse, says a set of CIFOR papers on biofuel impacts in a special issue of Ecology and Society.  (Laura German, Pablo Pacheco, and George Schoneveld, Forest News)

Solar Industry Has One Year of Inventory, French Lobby Says - Makers of solar panels and cells have inventory representing about a year of sales, meaning that the industry will see further bankruptcies and consolidation, the head of France’s Renewable Energy Association said. (Francois de Beaupuy, Bloomberg)

Power Corporation to Propel U.S.$250 Million Wind Farm Feasibility - EEPCO is to conduct a feasibility study for a 250 million dollar wind farm in Assela using a loan of a million dollars from the African Development Fund. (Mahlet Mesfin, All Africa)