China's solar billionaire Shi Zhengrong will be one of several members from the private sector advising the United Nations secretary-general on energy and climate change in a newly established advisory group, Kandeh Yumkella, the group's chairperson, told reporters on Wednesday.

"What is unique about this group is that it has more non-UN members than UN members," Yumkella told reporters during the advisory group's first meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. "It is necessary for the secretary-general to have a group like this to help him with all of the (energy) issues so we are not taken by surprise."

The advisory group -- comprising of members from the public and private sectors -- includes at least 19 high-profile people, including Shi Zhengrong, CEO of Suntech Power Holdings in China, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who is the CEO of the Masdar Initiative in the United Arab Emirates, Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello, CEO of the sugar and alcohol company Cosan in Brazil, Former President of Costa Rica Jose Figueres, and Heldge Lund, CEO of the oil and gas company StatoilHydro in Norway.

While the group will advise UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the climate treaty being negotiated in preparation for a deal in Copenhagen, Yumkella said the group will heavily focus on ways to implement cleaner energy initiatives in the developing world.

Currently, 1.6 billion people live without electricity and roughly 2 billion people burn biomass, destroying forests and contributing to pulmonary diseases, which, at times, has been as deadly as malaria, said Yumkella, who is also the director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Added to current levels of poverty, the group is projecting rising energy prices in the near future. Last year's food and fuel crises coupled with an approaching energy crisis could push another 100 million people below the poverty line, shaving off many of the achievements made under the Millennium Development Goals, said Yumkella.

Meanwhile, there have already been significant declines in investments in infrastructure, particularly in the energy sector.

"We're looking at the numbers right now," said Yumkella. "It's worrisome because we know from the last financial crisis in 1997, it took over four or five years for the investments to come back up in the infrastructure sector."

Creating more efficient means of energy can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 to 40 percent globally but it's not happening yet, said Yumkella.

"These are low-hanging fruits but we are not picking them so what more we have to do?" he asked.

Citing a report by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Yumkella said the international community has to move faster in addressing climate change because time is running out.

"We don't think globally, we're moving fast enough," he said of the advisory group. "It is all the more reason why we need to bring in some private-sector ideas to mobilize action."

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2009)