By Charles Cormier, Stakeholder Relations Team Leader, Environment Department, Carbon Finance; Clemencia Torres; Senior Regulatory Economist, Latin America and Carribean Region, Energy Cluster; Jamal Saghir, Director, Energy and Water; Imane Akalay, Sr Investment Officer, Investments Division, IMF. Moderator: Sergio Jellinek, Communications Advisor, Environmentally and Social Sustainable Development, World Bank The world economy of 2035 will be four times the size it is now, thanks largely to rising incomes in developing countries. Even if dramatic improvements in energy efficiency could be assumed, this quadrupled world activity will demand much more energy than is being consumed now. At current consumption patterns, the pressures will only get worse for fossil fuels, biomass, and electricity. Today, while, as noted above, the richest 20 percent of the world’s population consume 58 percent of the energy produced in a given year, the poorest 20 percent consume only 4 percent. Unless these consumption patterns change, the energy issue will become more acute. At the same time, world economic activity must become radically less carbon intensive, to avoid not only environmental disaster (through climate change) but health disaster on an epic scale as well. A shift to renewable energy and low- or no-carbon fuels is essential, as are the development and adoption of energy-efficient technologies. This seminar will discuss current trends and future projections of energy use, the prospects for expanding supply, the determinants of energy production, the question of access, and the environmental effects of energy use and strategies for sustainable energy development. Background material: CharlesCormier.ppt, Energy.pdf and Access.ppt Watch the video on B-Span Reading List: |
RSS