ENERGY: Europeans Urged to Help Themselves and the Poor

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN, Jan 22 2004 (IPS) - An international conference has urged European nations to boost the share of renewables in their energy consumption and to assist developing countries in energy strategies.

The call emerged from the three-day ‘European Conference for Renewable Energy – Intelligent Policy Options’ in Berlin Jan. 19-21. The conference drew more than 650 participants from 45 countries.

Organised by the European Commission, executive arm of the 15-nation European Union (EU), it was a regional preparatory meeting ahead of the International Conference for Renewable Energies û officially known as Renewables 2004 û to be held June 1-4 in Bonn.

The Berlin conference was preceded by regional meetings in Brazil and Kenya; further preparatory conferences will follow in the next few weeks in Yemen and Thailand.

More than 1,000 participants are expected at Renewables 2004.

The main issue before representatives of governments, international organisations, energy companies and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) will be to find ways of expanding use of renewable energy sources. They are expected to draw an action plan in which stakeholders lay down their commitments.

The Berlin gathering was like a milestone on the road to Bonn.

“External financial aid in the energy field is needed in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to reduce poverty,” says a six-page document titled ‘Berlin Conclusions’ emerging from the conference this week..

“Increased efforts should be made to assist developing countries in establishing energy strategies for sustainable development that appropriately address poverty eradication,” the document says.

“The EU Energy Initiative serves as a vehicle to achieve this and to provide modern energy services,” the Berlin document says. “This aid should be provided with full national ownership and in a manner that supports the use of renewable energy and strengthens the active involvement of local financial institutions.”

The conference also urged EU institutions to “start a political process of setting ambitious, time-bound targets for increasing the share of renewable energy.” It said “a target value of at least 20 percent gross inland energy consumption by 2020” for the EU was achievable.

The Berlin conclusions were welcomed by German government representatives and by a coalition of NGOs.

The conclusions are a clear signal to expand renewable energy globally, said German environment minister Juergen Trittin. “We Europeans have made it explicit that we wish to be the initiator, precursor and the driving force behind the worldwide expansion of renewable energies.”

It is important to achieve a global breakthrough for energy generated from wind, water, sun, biomass, and geothermal heat, says German development cooperation minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. “Two billion people have no access to modern energy,” she says. “Access to energy is decisive for worldwide poverty reduction.”

An estimated 1.6 million people die every year from illnesses caused by indoor air pollution due to energy use.

Eighteen NGOs within Citizens United for Renewable Energy and Sustainability (CURES) welcomed the Berlin conference’s strong plea for increasing use of renewable energy. “The EU’s credibility is at stake,” CURES spokesman Juergen Maier told IPS.

The Berlin preparatory meeting for Renewables 2004 urges EU institutions to start a political process of setting ambitious, time-bound targets for increasing the share of renewables, said Maier.

The European Commission and the Irish presidency have prime responsibility in showing leadership before the Bonn conference, Maier said. “Now these targets have to be translated into binding EU directives.”

Renewables 2004 was convened because clear targets for renewable energy could not be agreed at the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD) 2002 in Johannesburg, CURES said in a statement.

EU members and other countries then launched the Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition (JERC), and Germany decided to organise Renewables 2004. This created a unique opportunity to promote global development of renewable energy with clear targets and measures. “This opportunity must not be wasted,” CURES says.

A major obstacle has been lack of commitment by the European Commission, says Maier. Commissioner for energy Loyola de Palacio has continuously blocked the setting of clear targets for renewables, he says.

“The fact that she (de Palacio) did not attend this conference clearly illustrates the importance she gives to renewables,” said Maier. “The Commission must change course so that the EU can lead a global process of transformation towards a sustainable energy system and fulfil its Kyoto Protocol commitments.”

The text of the protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted in Kyoto in Japan Dec. 11, 1997. The protocol shall enter into force three months after it is ratified by countries that account for at least 55 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

“The global challenge of protecting our climate requires a renewed, environmentally compatible and sustainable energy system,” Trittin told participants at the conference. “We will have to lower greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30 percent by 2050 if we are to prevent dangerous climate change.”

CURES says that to make Renewables 2004 a success it is necessary that countries of the enlarged EU agree on a series of issues ahead of the conference in June. It wants agreement on a new target of at least 25 percent renewable energy in the total energy supply by 2020. The existing target for 2010 is 12 percent.

European input to international cooperation for new renewable energy must also be defined, CURES says. EU countries should involve other countries in long-term cooperation for renewable energy.

It wants the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and other multilateral development banks to stop financing fossil and nuclear energy, and to reserve energy investments for renewable energy and energy efficiency as recently recommended by the World Bank’s extractive industries review.

The same approach must apply to regional EU development activities, including the Euro-Mediterranean action plan and cooperation with non-EU Europe, says CURES.