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About 2.8 billion people or close to the half the world population's
is estimated to survive on less than US$2.00 per day - the "poor" as
defined by international agencies such as the IEA, World Bank, UNDP,
UNEP and OECD. A key distinguishing feature of the world's poor is
inadequate access to cleaner energy services. The majority of those
earning less than US$ 2.00 per day rely on traditional biofuels to
meet the bulk of their energy needs and have no access to electricity.
Traditional biofuels meet the bulk of the energy needs of an estimated
2.4 billion people. Some 1.6 billion people have no access to
electricity and significant portion have limited or no access to
cleaner and more modern fuels such as kerosene, LPG and natural gas.
The poor in developing countries face, inter alia, three key energy
challenges:
 | Reliance on biofuels that harm human health and
the environment. |
| Inadequate access to cleaner energy services,
such as electricity, for productive purposes and institutional
applications. |
| Incomes that are too low (as well as limited
access to appropriate financing schemes) to allow the poor to
procure cleaner and more sustainable energy services, such as
electricity, that are more expensive . |
The underlying rationale of GNESD is that in order
to address these challenges it is necessary to increase the capacity
of developing country centres of excellence for effective knowledge
management of energy for sustainable development issues. All GNESD
activities are based on the firm belief that access to affordable,
modern energy services is a pre-requisite for sustainable development
and the alleviation of poverty. Thereby contributing to fulfilling
UN's Millennium Development Goals.
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