Preface
In today’s world, electricity access, poverty and health issues seriously restrict the sustainable development of humanity. There are close to 900 million people without electricity access worldwide and 750 million who live below the international poverty line. Meanwhile, there are 47 least developed countries (LDCs) with a per capita GDP less than USD 1,000. These countries all have low human resources and high economic vulnerability. In addition, human health is also seriously threatened by energy poverty, environmental pollution and climate change.
Countries or regions who have an irrational energy development mode are more likely to have large portions of their population who have minimal electricity access, poverty and health issues. Due to low-level energy development and poor energy supply, some people around the world still have no access to electricity. The energy structure dominated by fossil fuels has led to more severe environmental pollution and climate change, posing a direct threat to human health. Unreasonable energy planning and development have given rise to higher energy costs and inadequate economic development power, which further aggravate poverty.
As the core of sustainable development, clean development can fundamentally change the energy development mode. The key for achieving clean development is to implement a ‘clean replacement’ on the energy supply side and an ‘electricity replacement’ on the energy consumption side. GEI is a modern energy system to realize the global production, allocation and utilization of clean energy. It aims to comprehensively improve the implementation effect of the ‘two replacements’ through grid interconnection, thereby changing the energy development mode and promoting the transition to a green and low- carbon energy development worldwide.
To speed up the establishment of GEI, achieve universal access to electricity and address poverty and health issues, GEIDCO has compiled the Global Energy Interconnection Action Plan for Addressing Electricity Access, Poverty and Health Issues (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Action Plan’ ’). The Action Plan analyzes problems about electricity access, poverty and health in the course of human development, analyzes the key role of specific country’s and region’s energy development mode in the above issues, and expounds the value of GEI in achieving universal access to electricity and eradicating poverty and health issues. Meanwhile, the Action Plan also proposes global actions and international mechanisms to comprehensively establish GEI. In detail, these include actions to deepen the global consensus, accelerate clean energy development, strengthen grid interconnection, promote electricity replacement, enhance energy efficiency and foster inherent growth dynamism, and mechanisms of energy development aid, joint interconnection, coordinated industrial development, transnational power trading, innovative investment and financing, as well as technical standard collaboration.
The Action Plan can help accelerate the transition to a green and low-carbon development mode of global energy, achieve universal access to clean, safe, cheap and efficient modern energy, completely achieve universal access to electricity; increase the income of poverty-stricken families, lower energy supply costs, remove the energy resource bottleneck for economic development and effectively reduce the number of poverty-stricken areas; and create an ecosphere with benign development. By doing so, it will mitigate climate change and improve human’s adaptability to climate change, and enable humans to enjoy cleaner air, water and food, more reliable social security, better medical and health services, more living conditions and more beautiful natural environment and better health conditions.
GEI is a great cause aiming to benefit all human beings and requires the pooling of global wisdom and power. GEIDCO makes an appeal to the international community that governments, enterprises, organizations and individuals from all countries should work together to establish GEI, accelerate global clean development, build a better home for humans and jointly embrace the future of global sustainable development.
