Rio Environment Meeting Focuses On ‘Energy For All’

Rio Environment Meeting Focuses On ‘Energy For All’

Diplomats and activists from around the world are meeting in Rio de Janeiro to talk about how the planet’s growing population can live better lives without damaging the environment. The Rio+20 meeting marks the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio, a watershed meeting to address topics as diverse as climate change and biodiversity.

At this follow-up meeting, delegates hope to highlight an issue that was almost absent from the Earth Summit: making energy available to everyone in the world. Three of the world’s biggest problems are completely intertwined: Poor people need sources of energy to raise their standard of living; cheap energy from fossil fuels produces large amounts of carbon dioxide; and carbon dioxide is changing the climate in ways that are hardest on poor people.