U.S. Energy Policy & International Accord

The United Nation’s Rio +20 meeting wrapped last week, resulting in several hundred voluntary commitments from member countries and an ambitious vision for worldwide ‘sustainable development’ in the form of a declaration titled “The Future We Want.” Rio +20 and “The Future We Want” follow the UN’s recently-launched “Sustainable Energy for All” initiative, which aims to provide universal access to modern energy services, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency, and double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030. The importance of energy – specifically as a tool for poverty alleviation and resource/ecosystem conservation –… [more]