United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the United Nations’ specialized agency with the mandate to promote industrial development in the world’s developing and least developed nations. The Organization supports governments, businesses and other stakeholders in their efforts to meet the challenges of, and to remove the barriers to, their industrial development. To do so, UNIDO mobilizes knowledge and information, builds capacity, and facilitates the transfer of technology to enhance competitiveness and advance the adoption of climate change mitigation measures.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the United Nations’ specialized agency with the mandate to promote industrial development in the world’s developing and least developed nations. The Organization supports governments, businesses and other stakeholders in their efforts to meet the challenges of, and to remove the barriers to, their industrial development. To do so, UNIDO mobilizes knowledge and information, builds capacity, and facilitates the transfer of technology to enhance competitiveness and advance the adoption of climate change mitigation measures. UNIDO’s strategy is built upon three pillars:

• Poverty reduction: fostering the engagement of men and women in productive industrial activities
• Trade capacity-building: enabling industries in developing countries to produce and trade goods and services that meet national and international industrial standards
• Energy and environment: encouraging the adoption by industries of cleaner, resource efficient and low-carbon patterns of production and investment.

Energy at UNIDO

UNIDO supports patterns of energy use that mitigate climate change and are environmentally sustainable, and that promote access to clean energy for productive activities. This effort involves promoting energy efficiency and energy management standards, as well as supporting the adoption of renewable energy technologies in the industrial sector. UNIDO’s actions also aim to enhance energy access in developing countries, primarily in rural areas, as a fundamental means to create value-added products and reduce poverty. Furthermore, the Organization is championing industrial energy
perspectives and access to energy in global debates on climate change and other energyrelated issues. UNIDO’s unique expertise on sustainable industrial development gives it the ability to effectively carry out specialized demand-driven projects. UNIDO serves as the executing agency of several multilateral agreements and funds, including the GEF and other partners, for a large number of energy projects. The Organization operates in the international arena both independently and in cooperation with other development agencies, maintaining its strong network of partner technology institutions, cooperating agencies and experts.

Services provided by UNIDO include:

• Technology demonstration: demonstrating the technical, economic and social feasibility of using different sustainable energy technologies; and promoting these technologies for industrial applications in energy intensive manufacturing SMEs
• Policy support: enabling a policy environment that helps promote sustainable energy technologies, markets and investments; and fostering agreements between the industrial sector and the national energy and environment sector regulators, utilities and financing agencies
• Capacity-building: supporting capacity-building of national institutions, public decision makers, local entrepreneurs and industry; and strengthening manufacturing capacities of local industries and enterprises to manufacture, assemble and maintain sustainable
  energy technologies and systems
• Global forum activities: bringing together experts, institutions and decision makers in high-level global forums to raise awareness, foster partnerships and discuss and contribute to the global debate on sustainable energy issues Information dissemination: enhancing access to databases and dissemination of information on sustainable energy sources and technologies and their applications; and promoting clearing house activities for information sharing, synergies and networking.