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RENEWABLES: A Few Take On Some Big Steps

Sanjay Suri

BONN, Jun 4 2004 (IPS) - A few nations pledged strong steps towards a shift to increased use of renewable energy in Bonn Friday.

Significantly, one of the biggest pledges came from China, which has set itself a goal of meeting 10 percent of its energy targets from renewables by 2010. Significant pledges backed by specific action programmes came also from the Philippines, Egypt, the Dominican Republic, Spain, Denmark and Germany.

The commitment from China proved “amazing for many people,” Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, German federal minister for economic cooperation and development told media representatives at the end of the conference. She has been leading a push to promote German photo-voltaic technology in China.

Wieczorek-Zeul said the conference had begun an “era of a new energy future” by overcoming the “unholy alliance” that had tried to block progress on renewables at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannnesburg two years ago. The Bonn meeting managed to “overcome those organised interests behind those moves in Johannesburg,” she said, in a clear reference to the oil lobby.

The final declaration at the International Conference for Renewable Energies that concluded in Bonn Friday said that “it is estimated that up to one billion people can be given access to energy services from renewable sources, provided that market development and financing arrangements can be enhanced as intended through the conference’s international action programme.”

Specific commitments to financing renewable energy were made at the conference. One was the Wold Bank commitment to increase support for renewable energy by 20 percent a year over the next five years, she said.

Wieczorek-Zeul mentioned the World Bank because she is on its board of governors, and played a persuasive role in its decision to increase lending. But the far bigger commitment came from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The EIB announced a target at the closing stages of the conference Friday of increasing lending for renewable energies to 50 percent of its financing for electricity generation in the European Union (EU) by 2010.

On current targets this means the EIB will lend up to 850 million dollars a year for renewable energies generation through 2010. That is substantially more than the World Bank commitment which proposes an annual 20 percent increase over its present lending of about 200 million dollars a year for renewables.

The EIB has lent close to two billion dollars for renewables over the last five years (1999-2003).

The bank currently lends about 47 billion dollars a year. Despite agreements under European aid programmes in 120 countries, about 84 percent of its lending is within the EU.

The EIB decision will be a significant boost for European companies. Already, Europe is far ahead of the rest of the world in development and use of renewable energy technologies.

The commitment to renewables was backed by a Power Switch campaign for clean energy from conventional sources. Under this campaign the power sector in industrialised countries will aim to become carbon dioxide free by the middle of this century.

A total of 165 specific projects for a switch to renewables were presented at the Bonn conference. These were backed by provisions to track progress.

Beyond project-specific commitments, ministers and government representatives from 154 countries made broader and long-term commitments “to substantially increase with a sense of urgency the global share of renewable energy.”

But many more countries will have to do far more to reach the target of taking renewable energy to a billion people, delegates acknowledged.

The conference was hailed as a success by several environmental groups that are usually sceptical of conference outcomes.

“Renewables 2004 has set the stage for renewable energy to be the major part of the world’s energy future,” the environment group WWF said. “The conference was successful in delivering an action programme for implementing renewable energy.”

The conference overcame “the vested interests of the oil and coal industries and countries such as the United States and Saudi Arabia that tried to block progress,” said Jennifer Morgan, director of the WWF climate change programme.

WWF noted, however, that of the specific projects listed, only a few are noteworthy.

Greenpeace said the renewables meeting was a significant step but warned that the outcomes lacked the political will and urgency required to prevent dangerous climate change.

“The sun has just cracked the horizon on the dawn of the renewable energy revolution but has a long way to go yet,” said Steve Sawyer, political director for Greenpeace International.

Friends of the Earth said “the positive outcomes were too weak to prove the turning point towards a global sustainable energy future.” But it said the EIB commitment was a “welcome first step” towards changing the energy portfolio of international financial institutions.

The declaration at the end of the conference binds countries to report steps taken to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). At the political level leaders agreed to continue political dialogue and cooperation to support greater use of renewable energy.

The rain came down at the end of the conference, and not a leaf stirred. But that did not dampen faith either in wind or in solar energy.