UN-Energy is an interagency mechanism within the system of the United Nations related to energy. It was created after the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, and its purpose is to create a coherent approach towards a sustainable energy system especially in developing countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
To do this, UN-Energy is reviewing energy-related activities within the UN system and trying to mainstream them into a broader approach. At present, UN-Energy remains a very small UN entity since it does not even reach the programme status.
UN-Energy was established as a subsidiary body of CEB in 2004 to help ensure coherence in the United Nations system’s multi-disciplinary response to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and to promote the effective engagement of non-UN stakeholders in implementing WSSD energy-related decisions. Its membership consists of senior officials and experts on energy of the commissions, organizations, funds and programmes listed below. Secretariat work is being done by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
The United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB), chaired by the United Nations Secretary-General, endorsed the director general of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Kandeh Yumkella, as the Chairman of UN-Energy at its second regular session on 26-27 October 2007 in New York. Yumkella will serve as Chairman of UN- Energy for two years beginning on 1 January 2008.