UPCOMING EVENT
Energy Challenges Facing Humanity

The Global Energy Assessment (GEA), an initiative of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), based in Austria, argues that that there are sufficient energy resources and technologies to overcome the major energy challenges currently facing humanity. Thomas B. Johansson, Co-Chair of GEA’s Executive Committee, will deliver a conference on the reviews of the organization on October 13, at 3pm (Brazilian Eastern Time), at the IEA. The theme of the conference will be "Energy for Sustainable Development for the 21st Century". The meeting will be chaired by José Goldemberg, from the Electrotechnical and Energy Institute (IEE) of the University of São Paulo (USP).

According to Johansson, these challenges include providing an increasing world population with energy services for their well-being, facilitating access to modern forms of energy to enable poor people to get out of poverty, creating a reasonable level of energy security (energy at affordable prices without serious interruptions), and mitigating climate change and its effects. End-use efficiency and renewable energies, he argues, are priorities for the rest of the century and beyond. "However, the institutions and policies in place are not yet sufficient to make this happen."

Johansson, a PhD in Nuclear Physics, was appointed Professor of Energy Systems Analysis of the Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden, in 1986. He is currently a Professor in the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University, which he also directed from 2001 to 2009. From 1994 to 2001, he was Director of the UNDP’s Energy and Atmosphere Programme. From 1992 to 1996, he was convening lead author of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Second Assessment Report. Johansson has chaired and held memberships of a number of international and multilateral boards of energy-related institutions.

The event will be broadcast live over the web. In order to watch it, access www.iea.usp.br/aovivo.

about this site