31 December 2012: The African Union Commission's (AUC) Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has, in her New Year Statement, underscored the economic importance of agriculture for Africa and noted the environmental challenges that need to be addressed.
7 January 2013: The International Energy Agency (IEA) has underscored the need to reduce energy use from information and communication technology (ICT), which currently accounts for 5 percent of global electricity consumption.
19 December 2012: Participants at the Benin workshop on the National Strategy to Strengthen Human Resources and Skills to Advance Green Low Emission and Climate Resilient Development have developed a work plan for finalizing and launching the national strategy.
28 December 2012: The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) announced the launch of the "World EV Cities and Ecosystems" web portal, which aims to connect policy makers and practitioners for sharing electric vehicle (EV) best practices and encouraging increased cooperation in cities worldwide.
27 December 2012: The International Energy Agency (IEA) has indicated plans to expand its role in advising on energy efficiency and renewable energy in the Middle East and North Africa.
18 December 2012: Reporting on recent flooding in Italy and the Italian Government's efforts to secure €40 billion over the next 15 years for flood prevention, the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction - Regional Office for Europe (UNISDR EUR) highlighted the need for risk management and reduction to address known and emerging risks.
19 December 2012: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a press conference reflecting on the year's work, in New York, US, on 19 December 2012. He said the UN has helped to lay foundations for progress on sustainable development, the “top challenge” of the 21st century, including through the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20).
20 December 2012: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and World Bank's Lighting Africa programme has announced that the clean energy company Barefoot Power has successfully registered its programme of activities under the UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
18 December 2012: The Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner, has appointed Mario Boccucci as the Head of the UN-REDD Programme Secretariat. Boccucci's appointment will be effective on 21 January 2013.
18 December 2012: The European Commission has awarded over €1.2 billion in grants to 23 renewable energy projects covering a range of technologies, including: bioenergy; concentrated solar power; geothermal power; wind; ocean energy and smart grids for distributed renewable energy management.
| Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) |
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| Conference Reporting Services (CRS) |
