Rio+20 Summit: Commissioner Piebalgs address on Sustainable energy
Today, at the Rio+20 Summit, EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, participated in a side event on "Sustainable Energy: how can innovative financing contribute to the global objective of connecting every person in the world to sustainable energy by 2050".
During this event, Commissioner Piebalgs stated:
The Commission's goal is to help developing countries to provide access to sustainable energy services to 500 million people by 2030, with support focused mainly, but not entirely, on Sub-Saharan Africa, where the needs are greatest. In pursuit of this ambitious but realistic goal we will create an EU Technical Assistance Facility, initially worth in excess of 50 million euro over the next two years. On top of that, we will look to provide a further several hundred million euro to support concrete new investments in sustainable energy for developing countries over the next two years.
Innovative financing will be a cornerstone of our activities and will see us exploring a number of avenues. For instance, we will explore how to use our grants in the most strategic way to make projects bankable, by providing risk-sharing mechanisms, helping finance revolving funds or subsidising interest rates. Such innovative approaches can "crowd in" additional financing from public and commercial investors to support the development of energy markets, growth and job creation in partner countries – and more specifically in Least Developed Countries and Small Islands Developing States, where the challenge is greatest.
On the Millennium Development Goals, the Commissioner said: Beyond 2015, however, there will be unfinished business. Hence the need for a post-2015 development framework of some kind. There is no MDG on energy – and yet energy is fundamental to all MDGs. Sustainable energy is also fundamental to the sustainable future of our planet, which is why it must be central to our discussions here and feature highly in the Rio outcome document. It is important to ensure that the implementation of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative is guided by already agreed objectives relevant for sustainable development.
Full version of the speech: The challenge of providing sustainable energy for all in the poorest countries: how can innovative financing contribute? 
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