Energy: The Missing Millennium Development Goal

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) include eradicating extreme poverty, improving the health of women and children, gender empowerment, environmental sustainability and global partnerships. There are no energy-related targets, such as access to energy, although there is increasing evidence of relationships between energy and the MDGs and development in general. The global community has to commit to eradicating energy poverty within the next few decades. This will require financial resources, knowledge and institutional resources, and stimulating national governments to lead the process of securing energy access for their peoples.