ENVIRONMENT: Brazil to Take Renewable Energy Plan to Johannesburg

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

SAO PAULO, May 17 2002 (IPS) - Brazil will attempt to jumpstart global negotiations on the environment with a proposal for an international agreement to increase renewable sources of energy to 10 percent of global consumption over the next eight years.

The Brazilian initiative will be presented at the World Conference on Sustainable Development, to run Aug 25-Sep 4 in the South African city of Johannesburg.

Although the 10 percent target would be a requirement for every country, a market would also be created in which a nation could purchase credits, thus paying for compliance with its own obligations in another country.

Renewable sources of energy include wind, solar and geothermic power, modern uses of biomass, small hydropower plants, and wave and tide-generated electricity, all of which accounted for just 2.2 percent of global consumption in 1998.

Only modern uses of biomass, such as generating electricity and heat by burning industrial and forestry refuse, are considered renewable. The traditional use of firewood for cooking and heating, which is highly wasteful and leads to deforestation, is not classified as renewable.

The proposal was set forth by the environment secretary of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, José Goldemberg, a former national minister of the environment and education, and was taken up by the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, which will present it in Johannesburg.

Goldemberg described the initiative at the seventh meeting of the Inter-sessional Committee of the Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Environment Ministers, a three-day event that ended Friday in Sao Paulo.

The meeting was convened to discuss the positions that the region will take to the Johannesburg conference, and to study a regional action programme for the next two years.

Renewable energy offers enormous advantages over power generated by the fossil fuels: oil, coal and natural gas, said Goldemberg.

Besides reducing air pollution at a local and global level, renewable sources of energy offer more stable, long-term supplies due to the diversification of sources, generate jobs, and can partially replace oil imports in many countries.

Furthermore, reducing the use of fossil fuels is essential to fighting the greenhouse effect, which causes global warming.

The Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, is in trouble due to the refusal to sign it by several countries, the United States in particular.

The European Union, recognising the advantages of renewable sources of energy, adopted a resolution urging its members to increase the use of alternative sources of electricity to 12 percent of national consumption.

In addition, the report issued by this week’s preparatory meeting for the Johannesburg summit also recommends that the use of renewable energy be increased to five percent of global consumption. But without government measures or clearly established targets and timelines, that goal will not be met until around 2025, Goldemberg underlined.

Increasing the use of alternative sources, based on international agreements, would be beneficial for the world, and especially for developing countries, where modern uses of biomass would curtail deforestation, generate jobs and contribute to the fight against poverty, he argued.

One success story is Brazil’s fuel alcohol programme, which employs sugar cane and has reduced the amount of gasoline used in this country, thus curbing air pollution and improving air quality in the large cities, while cutting Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent.

Brazil’s proposal could pave the way for advances at the Johannesburg summit, said Costa Rican Environment Minister René Castro, a United Nations Development Programme expert on energy.

Implementing the initiative would be more simple than applying the mechanisms created by the Kyoto Protocol, since the European Union has already made a similar recommendation, and it would be more difficult for governments to put up resistance to adopting a target for the use of renewable energy sources, he maintained.

But opposition would be expected from oil exporting countries, which would see their share of the global energy market shrink, and from nations that defend the development of nuclear energy as a sustainable alternative.