Speech at the 'Energy for all' conference dinner

Dear Excellencies, Honored guests. It is an honor to be your host here at the “Energy for all” conference dinner in Oslo’s magnificent City Hall.

The world’s population needs more energy.

To me, one of the most important messages from this conference is that we cannot see the fight against poverty, the fight for development and the fight against climate change separately. We need to address all these issues at the same time.

I think it is easy to forget in rich and developed country as Norway, that the reality in other parts of the world is completely different. This message has been firmly delivered to us today by many of the conference participants.

For me it is clear, that if you do not have access to electricity, your biggest worry is probably not climate change. If you do not have access to enough food and live in a society with few possibilities for economical and social development you probably feel the same way. Like our Prime Minister Stoltenberg underlined in his opening address global access to energy is fundamental for decent living.

There is no single way to reach this goal, and the goal is no less than changing the lives of billions of people.

The UN Secretary-General’s vision for universal energy access, a doubling of energy efficiency and of the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030, underlines in my opinion this point.

We need to be ambitious in introducing technology and human capacity in developing renewable energy; we need to increase energy efficiency in all parts of the economy. The initiative Energy+ is Norway’s contribution in this effort. In Prime Ministers Stoltenberg words, providing sustainable energy access is not only possible, it is necessary and it is urgent.

However, we also need to accept the fact that fossil fuels will be an important part of the goal energy mix in the future.  In fact, according to the IEA’s last world energy outlook, the share of fossil fuels will be the same as today in 2030, under the framework of the two-degree target.

We must also pay attention to the importance of secure energy supply and the vital role of stable and well functioning markets. Volatility is challenging for developed countries, like Norway, but it is even worse for developing countries. Uncertainty and volatility in the markets are the biggest enemy for investments in renewable energy.

Can we succeed?

All the good examples and all the spirited interventions that were made during the conference today give us good reason to be hopeful and positive. There is clear support and good initiatives from developed countries and multilateral organizations; there is interest from the private sector and many developing countries are working to ensure a good and secure political framework for investments.

That is a very good basis for going forward.

Thank you coming to Norway and participating in this important conference and I hope tomorrows “case studies” will act as an inspiration for those of you who will participate in day 2 of the conference.