On Monday January 19th, The International Year of Light 2015 was officially launched at the UNESCO Headquarter in Paris. During the Opening Ceremony, Philips Lighting CEO, Eric Rondolat, who was one of the speakers announced that Philips Lighting is committed to help end light poverty. He stated “We need to end light poverty for 1.3 billion people by 2030… Eradicating Light Poverty is the most socio-economic thing to do”.  Eric Rondolat also talked about how solar powered LED lighting is an alternative to kerosene.