A million US dollar grant has been launched by UN DESA, with funding support from the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), to promote leadership and innovative practices in energy for sustainable development.

In an interview with Derrick Mbatha of UN Radio, the Director of DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management, Mr Juwang Zhu, said the idea of the grant came from the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2012.

He explained that many governments felt that while encouraging progress had been made, best practices and lessons learned in promoting energy for sustainable development were not being disseminated. The new grant seeks to help address this issue by funding future capacity development activities in this area. It will be awarded to an individual, institution or partnership based on past and current achievements. Applications are accepted until 30 April 2015.

Listen to the UN Radio interview to find out more about the grant: http://bit.ly/18UP8fh