By: Mark Leon Goldberg on April 20, 2012 I will be at this cool looking event in which Ban Ki Moon is giving a keynote. This is the kind of thing that will lend itself to some live-tweeting, so check out @marklgoldberg and @undispatch for updates from the event. The Center for Global Development is the convener/host. Friday, April 20, 2012 8:45am–11:45am This event has reached capacity. Click here to add yourself to the waitlist. Worldwide, about 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity, while 2.7 billion lack access to clean cooking fuels. Meeting their needs is central to reducing poverty but relying on existing technologies would make runaway climate change unavoidable. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is leading a “Sustainable Energy for All” initiative that is built on his vision for deploying renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency, and achieving universal energy access during the next two decades. Can the Rio+20 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro this June help to foster a global consensus for action? What could the United States do to spur progress? Please join the Secretary General and other distinguished speakers for a thoughtful discussion of one of the world’s most pressing development issues. Remarks by Nancy Birdsall, Center for Global Development Nigel Purvis, Climate Advisers Session One: Sustainable Energy for All & Rio+20 Timothy Wirth, President, United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund Vijay Iyer, Director of Energy, World Bank Moderator: Nancy Birdsall, CGD Session Two: From Rio to Rio+20: A U.S. Perspective Carlos Pascual, U.S. Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs William Reilly, former Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Moderator: Nigel Purvis, Climate Advisers Keynote Addresses Ban Ki-moon, U.N. Secretary General Christian Friis Bach, Minister for Development Cooperation of Denmark>
