French president urges mobilization of global capital for renewable energy sources

French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday warned here in his inauguration speech of the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2013 that the conventional energy resources are “unsupportable” for many countries, urging all states to work together to make the energy change happen.

Hollande said at the summit which was held in Abu Dhabi that the current price developments for “fossil” energy resources like oil, gas and coal were “unsupportable” for many countries in the world, urging individual countries to mobilize their own financial resources to reach the UN’s goal of “Sustainable energy for all” until 2030.

He introduced that his country has launched a program to transform common buildings into low energy consuming buildings in line with the LEEDS, a global standard which defines how a house can be operated efficiently in relation to energy usage.

Meanwhile, he said a plan of the European Union (EU) worth of 300 billion euros to enhance renewable energy sources, like solar energy, wind power, geothermal and water energy had to slow down due to the financial crisis.

Earlier, the French president said while visiting French troops stationed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that multi-African forces would join French troops within a week in Mali to fight Islamist rebels there.

He pointed out that France currently has 750 troops on the ground to drive out Islamist forces in the north of Mali, adding that his country plans to increase the number of military personnel to 2,500.

Troops from Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo and Senegal would reinforce the French forces which achieved “successes” in striking targets of the “al-Qaida-linked” rebel groups, he said.

So far, two French soldier along with 11 Malian soldiers and over 100 Islamist rebels have been killed in the battles.