Ten years ago, we attended our first energy conference hosted by the Chinese government in Beijing. To make sure that our message was heard, we assembled our best material on the benefits of interconnections and delivered it directly to the Ministry of Energy. Later that year, our paper on "Linking renewable energy resources" was translated into Chinese and featured in the premier issue of China Power magazine. It appears the message is getting heard.

Today, the Chinese are building a nationwide energy grid to efficiently distribute electricity to the world's largest population. Their resource-rich western region is being tied to the energy-hungry population centers in the east. Additionally, Beijing hosted the 2^nd World Conference on Renewable Energies last year and made commitments to accelerate their solar, wind and biomass programs. It is critical to encourage China and India to grow sustainably — as the consequences drift far beyond political boundaries and threaten us all.

In a related discussion, 2000 business leaders meeting today at the World Economic Forum identified their five primary issues facing our world. The GENI Initiative offers a partial solution to three of them: sustainable development for China and India, addressing climate change, and narrowing the gap between the rich and poor nations.

The interconnection of electric grids between nations with an emphasis on tapping renewable energy will ameliorate many of the major challenges that we face. The question we ask ourselves every day: how can we accelerate this process in a world that remains addicted to fossil fuels? We need your help in making this case, and getting to the leadership who can drive this transition. There is no time to waste — so please share this message with your colleagues, media, and government leaders.

Happy New Year,