Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Statement on the Selection of António Guterres as the Next United Nations Secretary-General
Washington, DC (October 13, 2016) – Following the UN General Assembly’s selection of António Guterres as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves CEO Radha Muthiah issued the following statement:
“I would like to congratulate António Guterres on being selected as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations. Mr. Guterres has extensive experience, and his leadership as head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) helped improve the lives of crisis-affected people around the world.
“At UNHCR, and as a member of the Leadership Council of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Mr. Guterres has been a driving force for increasing access to energy and to cleaner, more efficient cookstoves and fuels for the nearly 60 million refugees currently displaced from their countries due to violent conflict. Under Mr. Guterres’ leadership, UNHCR formally launched a global strategy to enable millions of uprooted people to have regular and reliable access to cooking fuel and energy without threat to their lives or well-being.
“We look forward to continuing to support the work of the UN, across its agencies, with Mr. Guterres’ new role at the helm, and to changing the way millions of people cook to ensure that cooking no longer kills.”
Clean cooking is delivering gains across 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals, supporting inclusive, green growth and contributing to an enabling environment for achieving the entire 2030 Agenda. More than three billion people around the world depend on food cooked over heavily-polluting open fires or basic stoves, using solid fuels like animal dung, coal, and wood. The toxic emissions from burning these fuels causes more than four million premature deaths each year and dramatically impacts health, climate, deforestation, women’s empowerment, and local economies. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is working with hundreds of partners around the world to create a thriving market for cleaner, more efficient cookstoves and fuels. Learn more at cleancookstoves.org