Il WEC Inside è una pubblicazione bimestrale del World Energy Council (WEC) contenente interviste a rappresentanti del WEC e dei Comitati Nazionali, overview e aggiornamenti sulle attività recenti e future del WEC in tutto il mondo e, approfondimenti sulle ultime news in ambito energetico. La versione integrale del WEC Inside è disponibile nell'area Servizi Informativi, riservata ai soli Associati, sul sito del WEC Italia.

1.
WEC Inside
1–15 June 2014
Welcome to WEC Inside, your exclusive
briefing from your WEC network
News
WEC will be active at the UN’s first Sustainable
Energy for All Forum, to take place this week
(4–6 June) at the UN headquarters in New York.
At the Forum heads of state, ministers, busi-
ness leaders, and civil society will be assessing
progress to and charting the way forward to reach
targets on energy access, energy efficiency, and
renewables.
More than 1800 leaders, experts, and energy
practitioners are confirmed to participate at the
event. They come from governments, businesses,
international organisations, and civil society
groups.
Kandeh Yumkella, the Special Representative
of the UN Secretary-General and CEO of the
SE4ALL initiative, said: “The Forum is shaping up
to be a major stepping stone, where we can collec-
tively assess the results of our commitments, spur
new efforts and together chart a way forward to
achieve our objectives.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched
the SE4ALL initiative in 2011 with three objectives:
ensuring universal access to modern energy ser-
vices, and doubling the global rate of improvement
in energy efficiency and the share of renewable
UN SE4ALL Forum kicks off in New York
energy in the global energy mix, all by 2030. Over
$50 billion in commitments were made by business-
es and others at the Rio+20 conference in 2012; a
number of these commitments have been met and
exceeded, while others are in progress.
The Secretary-General and World Bank Presi-
dent Jim Yong Kim co-chair the SE4ALL Advisory
Board, which brings together over 40 eminent per-
sons from government, business, civil society and
1–15 June 2014 WEC Inside1
Romania will be hosting the FOREN
again this year. What’s new this time?
FOREN takes place once every two years and
focuses on issues in the EU and the Eastern Eu-
rope and Black Sea region. Our upcoming event
will be the 12th time for the event. This year, for
the first time, it will be held in Bucharest, Romania,
at the Parliament Palace. It will be opened in the
presence of the Romania Prime Minister and the
Minister of Environment.
What are some of the event highlights?
Among the highlights, we will bring together CEE
countries to discuss the broad-scoping regional
project known as the Danube Region Strategy.
This is a complex project involving 10 countries
along the Danube River: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Germany, Hungary, Moldavian Republic, Slovakia,
Romania, Ukraine and Serbia. All these countries
will take part in shared energy projects.
Related to this is Romania’s proposal of a new
initiative to create a north–south energy transport
Interview
Most of the global and regional players will be
present, such as Exxon, Socar, Kazmunaigaz,
General Electric, Gaz de France, E.ON, Enel, and
CEZ, so delegates will get to debate and try to
reach solutions to enable the EU to reduce its de-
pendency on Russian raw energy materials.
Our region has also seen lots of other changes
in the last two years. In terms of gas supplies, the
Nabucco pipeline was abandoned last year, while
exploration of shale gas reserves has started in the
Black Sea region and beyond, in countries such as
Bulgaria and Poland.
In the power sector, the solar PV and wind sec-
tor have benefited from renewables subsidies.
However, such subsidies have reached saturation
level and there have been calls for more grid invest-
ment to accommodate the increased wind capacity.
Therefore we need to look at the issue of electrical
storage in order for renewables to maintain its
growth momentum.
All eyes are on central and eastern Europe as the region under-
goes major shifts in energy developments. The upcoming FOREN
will look at the implications and opportunities for the region.
Iulian Iancu tells WEC Inside
News continued on page 2 ...
sons from government, business, civil society and
international organizations. The Board will meet in
conjunction with the Forum.
In promoting sustainable energy solutions, the
Forum will help build towards the UN Climate
lane within the EU, along the water course of the
Danube connecting the Romanian Black Sea with
the Black Forest in Germany.
FOREN is an important platform for knowledge
exchange and collaboration between directors and
enterprises in the energy sector. It will have not
only a conference and but also an exhibition. The
event will feature 12 sessions and roundtables.
Being a WEC regional event, it will also host the
meetings of five WEC study groups.
How has the region’s energy context
changed since the last FOREN?
FOREN 2014 will take place in a turbulent political
context marked by big political and economic
challenges. The conflict between Russian and
Ukraine is directing our focus on the issue of ener-
gy security for the entire region and the EU. Given
the possibility that Russia may stop the delivery of
raw energy materials – which will eventually
escalate the conflict – FOREN will play host to
discussion on the implications within the countries
in the region.
Iulian Iancu is Chair of the
WEC Romanian Committee,
which organises FOREN.
continued on page 3 ...