Energy Future Coalition

The lack of access to modern forms of energy, like electricity, denies billions of people the tools they need to get ahead economically. U.S. leadership on advanced energy technologies is the first step toward promoting their adoption in the developing world. The second step is attracting more private-sector financing for the deployment of modern energy services to the 2 billion poor who now lack them. New financing instruments could assist in that process.

The Energy Future Coalition is working to establish Global Development Bonds, a new class of securities for sustainable energy investments in developing countries that would leverage tax incentives, risk insurance, and matching funds.

Supporting the economic development of developing countries is not only the right thing for the United States to do; it is in the best long-term economic and security interests of our nation. In this era of globalization, economic performance around the world affects the performance of the U.S. economy. And because poverty is such a long-term destabilizing force, U.S. national security compels an enlightened approach to international development.

The poorer countries of the world stagnate or decline if they do not have access to affordable energy. And if that energy is not clean, it will prove unsustainable for the countries in question and the whole world. Since we share one global climate system, we find our environmental destiny bound up in the energy choices made by these developing countries. Given these circumstances, it clearly behooves us to promote the availability of abundant, reliable and clean energy the world over.

More about Global Development Bonds