renewable energy

Some world leaders will deliver speeches in the UN General Assembly hall in person, but it's expected the majority will not be travelling to New York.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

From BTS, K-Pop heroes, to net zero: 5 things to look out for at UNGA76

15 September 2021
UN Affairs

The 76th session of the UN General Assembly is due to begin on 14 September, and it will be very different from 2020’s fully virtual gathering. UNGA 76 will still be overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but that won’t stop leaders (some of them in the Assembly Hall) from addressing urgent global challenges. Here are five things you should know about 2021’s “hybrid” event.

Young displaced people who have returned home in South Sudan are learning new engineering skills.
IOM 2021/Aleon Visuals

FROM THE FIELD: South Sudan’s displaced youth, help power change

10 July 2021
SDGs

Young people who were displaced by conflict in South Sudan have returned home to power change in their community.

New power cube technology on display in Vanuatu. The cubes are charged with electricity using solar rays.
UNDP

$1 billion fund for renewables among key energy commitments made during UN ministerial forums

25 June 2021
Climate and Environment

The IKEA Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation have announced plans to launch a $1 billion fund to boost access to renewable energy in developing countries – one of the key commitments made during a series of virtual UN ministerial forums this week.

A solar streetlight in the Um Rakuba refugee camp, Sudan
UNDP Sudan/Ala Eldin Abdalla Mohamed

FROM THE FIELD: Solar power lights up Sudanese refugee camp

15 March 2021
Humanitarian Aid

In eastern Sudan, renewable energy is being trialled as a power source in UN-run refugee camps, where an influx of thousands of people fleeing conflict in Ethiopia is putting a strain on local resources, and host communities.

Solar power has improved the livelihoods of local people.
UNDP Lao PDR

FROM THE FIELD: Laos villages transformed by solar power

10 January 2021
Climate and Environment

For people living off-grid in remote villages in Laos, solar energy offers a clean, sustainable way to bring electricity for all, and the promise to transform their lives.

Tuvalu is particularly susceptible climate change.
UNDP/Joe Hitchcock

News in Brief 2 December 2020

2 December 2020
News in Brief
  • Making peace with nature must be top priority for all: UN chief 
  • Countries urged to reduce fossil fuel production to avoid ‘catastrophic’ temperature rise 
  • Pandemic driving down wages, with women and low-paid workers hard hit: ILO report
Audio -
3'41"
Brazilian mine (file)
Agência Brasil/José Cruz

UN highlights urgent need to tackle impact of likely electric car battery production boom

28 June 2020
Climate and Environment

Demand for raw materials used in the production of electric car batteries is set to soar, prompting the UN trade body, UNCTAD, to call for the social and environmental impacts of the extraction of raw materials, which include human rights abuses, to be urgently addressed.

Coastal communities, like Port Sud-Est in Mauritius, are exposed to the adverse impacts of climate change.
UNDP Mauritius/Stéphane Bellero

What will power the post-pandemic global economic recovery?

27 June 2020
Climate and Environment

As governments try to kick-start their economies, the UN is calling for recovery plans to be built around low-carbon technologies, to avoid a return to fossil fuel-based "business as usual".

The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative solar facility in the US state of Hawaii.
ILO Photo/Kevin Cassidy

Moving towards 100% renewable power in Hawaii (with a little help from sheep)

10 May 2020
Climate and Environment

The US island state of Hawaii has committed to generating 100 per cent of its power using renewable energy by 2045, demonstrating to other US states and island communities across the world, that sustainable energy can be a reality. UN News travelled to Hawaii with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to talk to a power company executive and a sheep farmer to find out how they are contributing to that goal.

A solar-powered borehole provides water to more than 6,000 residents in a camp for displaced people in Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria.
IOM/Sascha Pimentel

FROM THE FIELD: Sunny days power a better life for displaced Nigerians

2 April 2020
Economic Development

Water boreholes powered by solar energy are helping to improve life for Nigerians displaced by conflict, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).