UNITED NATIONS, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) on Friday launched a new initiative to provide 1 million U.S. dollars to identify and recognize leadership and innovation in advancing sustainable development.

While speaking at the initiative's launch event, Under Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo said, "We hope recipient(s) will use the one million dollars fund for disseminating the best practices, for their replication and scaling up."

"Clearly, the initiative has a strong component on capacity building," he said. "We expect the recipient(s) to identify lessons learned and underlying factors of best practices, and share the lessons learned with decision-makers and practitioners from other countries, through capacity building workshops and seminars," he said.

UN-DESA is collaborating with the China Energy Fund Committee ( CEFC), a Hong Kong-based non-governmental think tank in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, to carry out the initiative.

At Friday's launch event, Patrick Ho Chi-Ping, Deputy Chairman and Secretary General of CEFC, said that recognizing leadership and innovation in sustainable energy and sustainable development will help bottom-up initiatives to replicate best practices on the ground.

According to UN-DESA, the initiative features a significant emphasis on capacity building, through South-South Cooperation and innovative partnerships. The institution(s) or individual(s) granted the 1 million U.S. dollars is expected to apply the fund to furthering their best practices and to building capacity in developing countries.