The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recently launched a project to assess the potential of 13 developing countries to generate energy from solar panels and wind turbines. The Solar and Wind Energy Survey Assessment (SWERA) will map solar and wind resources in Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Cuba, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sri Lanka. As a result of international climate-change talks, industrialized countries can offset their own greenhouse gas emissions by implementing clean energy systems in developing countries. SWERA will provide accurate information on the viability of these renewable technologies in different locations. Because the efficiency of solar and wind power is dependent on location, potential investors need detailed information on local climatic conditions. SWERA's findings will be linked to a geographic information system that allows potential investors to pinpoint promising locations on-line. Making renewable energy more widely avail able reduces greenhouse gas emissions and may even help alleviate poverty. According to Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's executive director, "In many developing countries the scarcity of energy is driving more and more people into poverty. A lack of energy also has severe environmental consequences. Those without access to electricity are forced to fell trees for firewood and cooking fuel, accelerating impacts such as soil erosion and the loss of the world's wildlife." Studies conducted in countries such as the Philippines have supported the belief that SWERA will discover much greater solar and wind resources than have previously been expected.