OK, UNDP, what’s the REAL plan to alleviate energy poverty?

OPINION

We almost choked on our first Red Bull of the day when we opened up our social media apps and stumbled upon this tweet.

How could we possibly not be excited by the influential David Roberts (Grist) tweeting about the UNDP’s call for greater attention to alleviating energy poverty as a key strategy to achieve the MDGs?

But, like a puzzled puppy who’s favorite chew bone has been taken away for no reason, we were disappointed by what we read when we clicked on the link: it was yet another lofty paragraph written in “development-ese” leading to a bunch of UN reports about how important energy poverty relief is to achieving the MDGs.

Hey, folks at the UNDP, a list of reports does little to sway policy-makers and public opinion.

To really move the needle on this issue we need a coordinated marketing, communications, and advocacy strategy that will engage public opinion and decision makers.

At The Charcoal Project we think a window for action will soon open up when the US Congress takes up discussion on a national energy (and climate change?) bill later this summer. This will be the time to lobby key Congressmen and Congresswomen to include language and funding that will address energy poverty alleviation beyond the borders of the US.

As we’ve written before on this blog, energy obesity and energy hunger are two sides of the same coin. What’s more, the technological and policy solutions exist, are proven, and require very little funding compared to, say, developing carbon capture from coal power plants (CCS), or a hydrogen economy.

This upcoming debate is a great opportunity for Ms. Helen Clark, the UNDP’s administrator and the first woman to ever run the agency, to load the bus to Washington with  some of the UNDP’s Goodwill Ambassador like Lebron James, Didier Drogba, Ronaldo, Maria Sharapova, and Antonio Banderas, and tell the folks in Congress how important the issue is and how easy and inexpensive it would be to make a huge impact on the 3 billion people who are still using caveman technology and fuels for their primary energy.