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(b) Relevance to Sustainable Development: Commercial energy services are crucial
to providing adequate food, shelter, water, sanitation, medical care, education and
access to communication. Lack of access to modern energy services contributes to
poverty and deprivation, and limits economic development. Furthermore, adequate,
affordable and reliable energy services are necessary to guarantee sustainable
economic and human development.
It is estimated that 2 billion people, or about one-third of the world’s population,
depend mainly on traditional biomass sources of energy; 1.7 billion are without
electricity. About 300 million people have been connected to electricity grids or have
been provided with modern biomass or other forms of commercial energy options
since 1993. However, in the absence of adequate measures, the number of people with
no access to commercial energy will remain stable or continue to grow as
demographic growth outpaces electrification in some parts of the world. Therefore, a
sustainable development goal is to increase the accessibility and affordability of
energy services for the lower-income groups of the population in developing countries
so as to alleviate poverty and promote social and economic development.
(c) International Conventions and Agreements: None.
(d) International Targets/Recommended Standards: The Johannesburg Plan of
Implementation (JPOI) of the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in
2002 includes the aim of improving access to reliable and affordable energy services.
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