Energy and development: The role of academia in education, research, and technological cooperation for sustainability

Over the last decades, the interest of the international community for the multiple interconnections among energy, environment, and society has widely increased. Today, the close link between energy and development is officially recognized. The 2030 development agenda identifies energy access as a necessary precondition for human and social promotion, as well as an instrumental right to fight poverty. Nevertheless access to sufficient, affordable, efficient, reliable, safe and clean energy is not yet an opportunity for all. In developing countries, the problem is critical, but evidence has also risen in emerging countries and, more recently, even in developed countries. A new culture of energy is needed at global level. Innovative solutions and strategies to match the economic growth with the multidimensional targets of sustainability, including environmental preservation and social inclusion, need to be developed. In this scenario, the academia and the scientific community may play a key role by reshaping and updating their traditional mission, based on education, research, and community outreach, with a vision of the society where the human being is settled back at the center of the stage.