OREANDA-NEWS. Energy ministers from across the world have appealed to the world’s richest nations to take urgent action to bring electricity to the poorest countries and ensure energy stability throughout the world with the spread of advanced energy technologies, reported the Official website www.minprom.gov.ru.

Ending a high-level conference at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the ministers addressed their final communique to the G8 leaders who will hold their annual summit at Heiligendamm, Germany, next week.

The Conference, entitled “Energy in a Changing World” demanded four specific actions:

The exchange of appropriate energy technologies with the aim of enhancing energy efficiency and management  and consequently ensuring the stability of the world’s energy system, with the active involvement of business and academic communities
The development and implementation of best practices in the area of energy education
The development of a classification system and indicators to help evaluate modern sustainable energy services and affordable supply
Specific commitments by the G8 members to reduce energy poverty.

Russia’s Minister of Energy, Viktor Khristenko, said “The divergence between the energy haves and the energy have-nots in the world is plain to see. We are looking to the G8 leaders to take concerted action to produce new, clean energy technologies and ensure that they are made available to those who need them most”.

Speakers at the conference noted that the availability of energy directly impacts on a country’s ability to develop industrially, especially in the IT age. Yet globally, 1,6 billion people have no access to network electricity. In Africa, 92% of the rural population and 48% of urban people have no modern energy provision.

The conference was attended by delegates from 54 countries.