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Marie-José Nadeau, from Canada, has been chosen as Chair-elect and will take the helm as Chair when the term of the current Chairman Pierre Gadonneix ends at the 2013 World Energy Congress in October.

Younghoon David Kim, from South Korea, was selected Co-Chair-elect and will take on this position at the end of the 2013 Congress.

WEC Chairman, has written to Member Committee chairs to pledge the WEC network’s support to India following the power outage in northern India earlier this month which left more than 600 million people without power for two days.

"It is important that we unite in our support for India at this difficult time. The issues faced by this major nation are ones with which we must all contend: the security of supply, environmental and climate protection and the ongoing struggle against energy precariousness. These issues will continue to impose themselves in the future, ever vigorously, and will increasingly be a cause for concern for us all

More than 700 energy experts and policymakers gathered at the Central and Eastern Europe Energy Forum (FOREN 2012) in Neptun, Romania (17-21 June 2012) to discuss the region's critical issues.

The issues include national and regional energy policies for the security of supply; electricity markets and the regulatory framework; regional policies on fossil fuel resources; clean coal technologies; energy efficiency; and environment protection. The event has been designated from this year as the WEC's official regional meeting for Central and Eastern Europe. It aimed to support the WEC's mission of facilitating a dialogue on energy policies for a sustainable energy future.

Christoph Frei joined Pierre Gadonneix and José Antonio Vargas Lleras in representing the WEC at the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) meetings in Rio+20. In an interview, he talks about how the WEC looks to put energy firmly within global development.

Rethinking the funding model for energy access, boosting skills, and increasing energy efficiency are the most critical issues to be addressed in order for energy to underpin development goals, said the World Energy Council at the Rio+20 meetings during the week of 18 June.

Energy was raised high on the Rio+20 agenda through the UN's Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) programme.  The initiative seeks to achieve, by 2030, universal access to modern energy, double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, and double the rate of energy efficiency improvements.

WEC will be contributing to an upcoming report for the United Nations as part of the UN Secretary General's Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative which will kick-start the ongoing monitoring of the initative's goals beyond 2012.

SE4ALL seeks to achieve, by 2030, universal access to modern energy, double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, and double the rate of improvement of energy efficiency. The initiative recognises that effective monitoring of progress towards its goals is essential to sustaining political commitment over the next 20 years.  The Baseline Report will provide an overview of the current state of progress on the three goals, and will set the reference point for tracking future progress.

WEC chairman Pierre Gadonneix recently called for a "strong balance" between economic recovery and energy sustainability.

On 12 June, he said at the International Economic Forum of the Americas that "sustainable growth needs a sustainable energy system." He told political and business decisionmakers at the Forum that this need is particularly strong given the backdrop of the economic crisis, rising energy demand, record oil prices, and climate change posing a threat to future growth.

José Antonio Vargas Lleras will be representing the WEC at the Rio+20 Summit this month. In an interview, he talks about energy for development, and what Latin America needs.

José Antonio Vargas Lleras will be speaking as one of the ten panellists at the Sustainable Energy for All session of the Global Sustainability Dialogues on 18 June in Rio.  He is the WEC's Vice Chair for the Latin America and the Caribbean region, and is also Chair of WEC Colombia (COCME).

At the 17th Congress of the Union of Producers, Transporters, and Distributors of Electric Power in Africa (UPDEA) in Hammamet, Tunisia, on 28-30 May, the WEC highlighted the potential for improvements in power plant performance to create economic and social dividends.   

Dr Latsoucabé Fall, WEC regional manager for Africa, noted that poor electricity access and low electricity consumption rank as the continent's top critical energy challenges. It also emphasised the crucial role of transmission infrastructure for African electrification.

Twenty-five aspiring energy leaders from nine countries and four world regions attended a workshop organised by WEC Turkey's Youth Programme held on 18-20 May 2012 in Ankara. 

At the workshop, delegates learnt about energy policymaking through dialogues focusing on specific topics.  They discussed the impacts of the recent Middle East developments and the financial and eurozone crises on the sector, in addition to Caspian energy resource, renewable energy, and nuclear power.

WEC lays out buildings blocks of energy security at African Presidential Roundtable. 

A visionary strategy with full stakeholder adherence, more engaged and farsighted leadership, and stronger government commitment towards sustainable frameworks are some of the basics needed for achieving energy security for Africa, the WEC told the recent African Presidential Roundtable 2012, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 23-25 May.

WEC called for stronger cooperation between governments and businesses needed to tackle the energy for water challenge. 

Addressing the World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy in Dublin, Ireland, on 17 May 2012, Einari Kisel, WEC's Senior Fellow for European Policies and Partnership Development, emphasised the need for stronger co-operation between governments and businesses to tackle the energy for water challenge.

During May 2012, Christoph Frei engaged in high level discussions, presenting the key findings from WEC flagship studies, at conferences in UK, Jordan and Canada.

On 3 May WEC's Secretary General spoke at the UK Energy Summit, held by The Economist in London. On 7 May Frei and Dr Hisham Khatib, WEC Honorary Vice Chairman, gave opening speeches at the Jordan International Oil Shale Symposium in Amman. On 14 May Frei addressed the World Forum on Energy Regulation in Québec, Canada.

Two candidates are running for the position of Chair of the World Energy Council: Marie-Jose Nadeau (Canada) and Younghoon David Kim (Korea (Rep.))

The election will take place during the WEC Executive Assembly in Monaco, 5-8 November 2012. The person elected, who will succeed current WEC Chair, Pierre Gadonneix, will serve a year as WEC Chair-elect before being officially seated at the end of the World Energy Congress in Daegu, October 2013.

Dr Christoph Frei, the World Energy Council's Secretary General, met with Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General, on Friday, 10 February 2012 at the United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss collaboration on the International Year of Sustainable Energy For All.

During a recent trip to Canada, World Energy Council Secretary General Christoph Frei toured four provinces with colleagues from the Energy Council of Canada to learn of Canadian perspectives on current energy issues.

The WEC African Regional meeting took place at the Sandton Convention Centre of Johannesburg, South Africa, on 28th February 2011. The meeting was hosted by SANEA, WEC MC of South Africa; and chaired by Prof. A. S. Sambo, WEC Vice Chair Africa Region and Chairman of Nigerian National Committee of WEC.

The World Energy Council, through its Task Force on Trade and Investment Rules, has been monitoring the progress in the WTO’s commendable efforts to reduce or eliminate barriers to trade for environmental goods and services, both in the Committee on Trade and Environment in Special Session (CTE-SS) and in plurilateral talks.

Energy Leaders Summit Asia 2010

WEC's first Energy Leaders Summit took place in Beijing last week and was marked by high level representation from a number of Asian and international companies and by energetic and insightful dialogue during the sessions. Issues discussed included energy security in Asia, the role of renewables and energy efficiency, and financing mechanisms to fight energy poverty.

Energy and climate policy dialogue in Riyadh

Dr Christoph Frei gave his perspective on the role of a international global price coordination mechanism for carbon as a climate change mitigation policy at a lecture held at the IEF headquarters in Riyadh.

Carbon price coordination proposed to curb climate change
Linked Arab News article by Mohammed Rasooldeen

The WEC Indian Member Committee hosted a welcome reception honouring WEC Chairman Pierre Gadonneix on February 1 at the Ashok Hotel in Delhi. The reception was followed by a roundtable discussion the Energy and the Environment. Over 60 WEC-IMC members and other dignitaries were present at the event.

World Energy Council interview on Energy Industry's needs from a Copenhagen Climate Change agreement

Interview with WEC Secretary General Christoph Frei, At COP 15, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2009  

Trip-perspective on Latin America

During a regional tour of Latin America WEC Secretary General Christoph Frei held meetings with Energy Leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia to present the WEC Issue Survey and discuss the most urgent energy challenges of the region.

WEC presents key findings of the World Energy and Climate Policy Assessment to Chinese government

In an exclusive meeting with the former NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission) Chair and now State Councilor Ma Kai and with NDRC’s first Vice Chair (in the position of an Energy Minister) Zhang Guobao, WEC's Secretary General Christoph Frei presented the key findings of the recently published World Energy and Climate Policy Assessment.  more >

World Energy and Climate Policy 2009 Assessment launched at FT-WEC Energy Leaders Summit

This WEC report was launched by the WEC Chair, Pierre Gadonneix at the 2009 FT-WEC Enery Leaders Summit:

• 2009 Assessment 
• Speech of Chairman Gadonneix at FT-WEC Summit  
• 13 October 2009 Press Release