i would like to add a few things to the discussion that you've had with vijay iyer and sustainable energy for all and give a little context from the united states' perspective. i think the first thing that is absolutely critical that happened here in secretary general's effort is that this was defined as an effort to leverage private capital and investment to stimulate action and change. it was not defined as a development assistance problem. and the reason that's absolutely critical, as you go back to the figures that nigel was just using, $48 billion a year in investment ever year through 2030 in order to be able to achieve universal energy access. if you define that as a development aid problem from the outset, you have failed. if you define it as a strategy to be able to leverage and create the conditions for private investment to make it possible to extend energy access to markets where it has not gone in the past, then you can succeed. whether the figure is 1% or 3%, we can debate that. but that $48 billion represents somewhere around i would say 3% of the total private investment t

i would like to add a few things to the discussion that you've had with vijay iyer on sustainable energy for all and give a little context from the united states' perspective. i think the first thing that is absolutely critical that happened here in secretary general's effort is that this was defined as an effort to leverage private capital and investment to stimulate action and change. it was not defined as a development assistance problem. and the reason that's absolutely critical, as you go back to the figures that nigel was just using, $48 billion a year in investment every year through 2030 in order to be able to achieve universal energy access. if you define that as a development aid problem from the outset, you have failed. if you define it as a strategy to be able to leverage and create the conditions for private investment to make it possible to extend energy access to markets where it has not gone in the past, then you can succeed. whether the figure is 1% or 3%, we can debate that. but that $48 billion represents somewhere around i would say 3% of the total private investment

could i invite tim wirth and vijay iyer to come up and sit down. and while they come up, let me introduce them very briefly. i think tim is very well-known to all of you here. he's a former senator from colorado. a former under secretary of state for global affairs and climate negotiator, and he is currently the founding president. it's been about ten years i think of the 10 or 11 years. just about when we started. that's why i know, of the united nations foundation and a better world for all. vijay is the director of energy issues at the world bank. we're very pleased to have both of them. let me just say another word at the substance of the panel. this session is about the global set-up and what's the global challenge. and as i said in my opening quick remarks, for us at the center, concerned primarily with the challenge of development, work, the colleagues of mine have done, over the last decade really has driven home for me the crisis that's out there, because of climate change. under business as usual. it does put at risk much of the progress

this kay, vijay iyer used to run the power -- was it the power sector, all of the energy sector for africa at world bank, but it's a topic maybe we can come back to because i think there's a huge amount of potential there, peslition with some change happening in south africa now and being a bigger market that could essentially be the demand focus that helps provide the financial security necessary for financing in the hydro sector. >> i'd like you to answer the questions that you thought of most relevant to you, but if you could add to your remarks something about how you, having lived through the original rio, would advice this president, if you were serving in the white house, on the question about whether he should go and to think about how to define the u.s. contribution at rio. you have a special window into that decision-making process and i think the audience would benefit a lot from your analysis of how that decision would be viewed by the white house. >> well, there's no question that if the president decides to go to rio he will be attacked for ignoring the problem of jobs at hom

tim wirth and vijay iyer, please come up here and sit down. tim is well known to all of you. he is a former senator from colorado, a former undersecretary of state for global affairs and climate negotiator. he is currently the founding president, it has been 10 or 11 years, of the united nations foundation and a better world for all. vijay iyer is the director of energy issues at the world bank. we're pleased to have both of them. let me say another word about the substance on this session. it is about a global set up and the global challenge. as i said in my opening remarks , at the center we are concerned about the challenge of development. the work my colleagues have done over the last decade has driven home for me the crisis out there because of climate change. it does put at risk much of the progress made insuring people can escape poverty over the last decade. part of the problem is that for the rich in the world, there is resources to adjust to the extreme weather shocks and other problems climate change can bring. for the poor, that is not the same case. the welfare i