Power to the people

April 29, 2010

Electricity, modern fuels are essential to fighting poverty and improving lives.

Our most recent Outlook for Energy: A View to 2030 contains many statistics, but none are more compelling than these:  

About 1.5 billion people today lack access to electricity. Even more lack modern cooking or heating fuels, and instead burn wood, dung or other traditional biomass fuels, which can be dangerous to people’s health and harmful to air quality.

Think about it: While more than 7 in 10 U.S. homes have a computer, and almost 90 percent of Americans have cell phones, more than one-fifth of the world’s population lives without access to electricity.

People and communities without modern energy face many challenges.

According to the United Nations, lack of energy services “entrenches poverty, constrains the delivery of social services, limits opportunities for women, and erodes environmental sustainability.”

In fact, the UN has said that achieving each of its eight Millennium Development Goals — which include reducing extreme poverty, hunger and disease — depends on access to energy. 

Looking out to 2030, ExxonMobil’s Outlook for Energy sees many positive trends — most notably how technology will improve energy efficiency, expand supplies, and help reduce impacts on the environment.

The Outlook also sees a more fundamental gain: As populations and economies in developing countries grow, more people will gain access to electricity. It is one reason why the world’s power-generation needs are expected to be about 50 percent higher in 2030 than in 2005.

ExxonMobil is committed to investing in the energy needed for economic and social progress through 2030 and beyond. The energy contained in the oil and natural gas we produce each day is equivalent to the electricity needed to power more than 2 billion light bulbs.

For people around the world, energy means opportunity. Expanding access to reliable and affordable energy will give hundreds of millions of people the power to escape poverty and create more prosperous lives.