HARISH HANDE managing director of Selco Solar, India
Selco Solar was the 2007 winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy.
As we reach the end of the first decade in the 21st Century, about one third of the world’s population still has no access to electricity, says Harish Hande. In this week’s Green Room, he argues that poor people should be at the centre of sustainable energy policies, not on the end of handouts.
As the world’s leaders consider how to finance our battle against climate change, the financing of practical, affordable solutions for poor people in countries like my own, India, appears to be of little interest.
Millions of trees have to be cut to meet the cooking needs of the poor; for lighting, millions of litres of kerosene are burnt daily. Yet, in this lopsided world, we are spending millions of dollars on finding solutions for the problems created in the West while the poor in developing countries have no choice but to keep harming the environment.
From: BBC Scotland
