Cercle mondial du consensus, World Circle of the Consensus, Weltkreis des Konsens

World Sustainable Energy Coalition

International NGO in Consultative Status with the Economic & Social Council of the United Nations

 

 

PRESS RELEASE for immediate release on 4 June 2002

 

Save Bali Conference and Johannesburg Summit with a
Minimum Annual 5 % Clean, Renewable Energy Growth Target

The deep frustrations about the procrastination of the Johannesburg Summit preparations in Bali are caused to a great deal by the unresolved, politically polarizing energy problem.

Already at the Rio Summit on Environment & Development, ten years ago, energy was kept at a too low profile in the negotiations, with the dire result that no commitments were made in Agenda 21 as regards the urgent substitution of polluting, risky forms of energy. The same happened to the Kyoto Protocol, which commits member states only to absolute minimum CO2 reductions or none at all.

Gustav R. Grob, President of the Geneva based World Sustainable Energy Coalition and Chairman of the ISO Committee on Energy Systems, explains the proposal to agree on an minimum annual average world target of a 5 % renewable energy share increase from the actual share of 20 %, in order to cope with the rapidly approaching depletion of fossil fuels. For this goal an addendum to Agenda 21 was proposed to the Chairman of the Preparation Committee, the Secretary General of the Johannesburg Summit and the Secretary General of the United Nations, as a prerequisite for effective national and regional action plans.

To achieve or even exceed this goal, the "Blueprint for the Clean, Sustainable Energy Age" was announced for the Johannesburg Summit, based on the CLEAN ENERGY 2000 Conference, with its Geneva Proclamation and Global Energy Charter for Sustainable Development.

The Brazilian Energy Initiative, which aims at increasing the share of renewables in the global energy use, was explained by Everton Vargas and Maria Rita Fontes Faria, Brazil. This excellent governmental initiative was mainly developed by Prof. José Goldemberg, Environment Secretary of the State of Sao Paulo and former Environment and Science & Technology Minister of Brazil during the Rio Conference. He was also Editor-in-Chief of the United Nations World Energy Assessment.

Irene Freudenschuss-Reichl from UNIDO, stressed the enormous challenge to get "energy for sustainable development" right. As a result of CSD-9, it is recognized that energy is a crucial ingredient for sustainable development and for poverty eradication. If the international community takes action to assist developing countries in providing more adequate energy services to their population in more sustainable ways, big gains could also be made for protecting the global climate.

Gail Karlsson from New York, representing ENERGIA, an international network on gender and sustainable development, discussed the great importance of decentralized renewable energy systems to provide energy services in rural areas and the quarter of the world population without electricity.

Professor Al Binger from the Caribbean, summed up the importance of renewable energy for island states, which still depend too much on fossil fuel imports, damaging marine habitats and wasting too much of their foreign exchange, while most islands could become energy self-sufficient with the natural, renewable energy resources they possess, combined with a more efficient energy usage.

Consult website http://www.cmdc.net for further information.