Request to the Chairman of the WSSD Preparatory Committee, the Secretary General of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Secretary General of the United Nations

Referring to the RIO DECLARATION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, proclaiming in Principle 1 that "Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature", rather than being victims of a few special interest groups controlling the energy business by producing polluting, risky energy, endangering the health, the biosphere and climate;

and Principle 2 "States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principle of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental and developmental policies … which do not cause damage to the environment of other states", which is not the case with the actual unsustainable energy systems that can and must be replaced by indigenous, clean, sustainable energy sources.

It further states in Principle 4 "In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it"; and in Principle 7 "States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem"; and in Principle 9 "States shall reduce and eliminate unsustainable pattern of production ….". rather than expanding the fossil fuel economy with more and more coal, oil and gas fired power stations and millions more of polluting vehicles.

In Principle 13 it is said that "States shall develop national law regarding liability and compensation for the victims of pollution and other environmental damage", which is a task wasting hundreds of billions of dollars, instead of investing this money in indigenous, clean, sustainable energy systems, which can cover all needs economically and ecologically, rather than wasting tight foreign exchange for importing polluting energy causing incalculable and irreversible damages, referred to in Principle 15 "…. the precautionary approach shall be widely applied, where there are threats of serious and irreversible damage …..".

Therefore Principle 16 must be enforced without further delay in order to "promote the internalisation of environmental costs …. taking into account the approach that the polluter should bear the cost of pollution ..", especially as regards unsustainable energy systems, which are the main cause of air pollution, health problems, biosphere degradation, acid rain, oil spills, lead, platinum and other heavy metals contaminations, global warming, rising oceans, incalculable risks of wars and radioactivity.

And last but not least it must be stated that the presently dominating energy systems are in conflict with Principle 24, stating that "Warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development", which is true in a double sense: warfare is caused by political claims on oil fields and causing unnecessary waste of precious fossil resources, which should be conserved for indispensable petrochemical uses by future generations, rather than being madly combusted.

Agenda 21 does not sufficiently stress the importance and urgency of the transition from polluting, risky and wasteful energy sources to clean, sustainable energy systems. Therefore the WSSD report must contain stronger recommendations for the transition to sustainable energy systems

Hence, a separate chapter 41 on Energy must be added in a new Section V, additional to the general statements in Section I, Chapter 4 "Changing consumption patterns" and Section II, Chapter 9 "Protection of the atmosphere", containing a suitable energy policy framework and plan of action for the top urgent transition from the still predominant, polluting and unsafe energy options to sustainable, clean energy systems, since energy is not only causing atmospheric problems, but imperils also water resources by leaking tanks, oceans and coastal areas by oil spills, agriculture and soils by acid rains, mountains, glaciers, health, biological diversity, trade balances, gender and peace and is thus connected to virtually all chapters of Agenda 21.

The existing recommendations in Agenda 21 about energy efficiency measures, financing and subsidies are not superseded by this new Section V, Chapter 41, which shall read as follows:

SECTION V IMPORTANCE AND URGENCY OF CLEAN, SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

IMPERATIVE TRANSITION FROM FINITE TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS

4.1.1 This chapter contains the following

(a) Introduction
(b) Depletion of fossil and fissile energy resources
(c) Impacts and risks of fossil and fissile energy affecting natural resources, agriculture,
health, oceans, mountains, biological diversity, trade balances, gender equity and peace
(d) Urgency and means for remedial action

4.1.2 As mentioned in previous chapters and in the "Rio Declaration on Environment and Development", energy is one of the most important economic factors, in developed as well as in less developed countries, but at present it is the main cause of global environmental degradation and climate change, threatening water resources, ocean life, coastal areas, agriculture, soil stability and productivity, mountains, glaciers and biological diversity, as well as human health, gender equity, peace and trade balances. The more general statements in the previous chapters in connection with energy are herewith reinforced by stressing the reasons, urgency and means for an effective action plan.

4.1.3 The depletion time horizon for the fossil and fissile energy resources lies within only a few generations. This will cause a major restructuring of the energy economy necessitating huge investments, creating a major shift of employment and massive migrations.

4.1.4 The negative impacts of fossil and fissile energy call for even more urgent action than concerns about resource depletion. The atmosphere is being affected by pollution and greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, and global climate change is disturbing natural weather cycles, causing harm to human beings and other living species in the biosphere. Agriculture in different areas is being harmed by , acid rains, desertification and violent flooding; marine environments are being damaged by increased water temperatures and ecosystem destruction; rising oceans and oil spills are affecting coastal areas with their important habitats, wildlife and beaches for tourism; and mountain regions are seeing rapidly retracting glaciers and more frequent weather disasters causing land slides. Economically, reliance on imported fossil fuels can cause trade imbalances, foreign exchange shortages, affecting especially the poorer nations, limiting their infrastructure development, provision of food and gender well-being. Health effects in polluted cites and on coal miners exceed tolerable limits. Oil drilling in deep seas and in protected wildlife resorts have other negative effects, but the worst impact on humanity are the oil wars and terrorism wasting billions of dollars.

4.1.5 Enough clean, sustainable energy technologies are available now to provide all societal needs for industrial development, housing and transport economically and in an environmentally compatible way. They create extra clean jobs and conserve fossil resources for the organic chemistry needed also by future generations at a much higher added value for many Centuries to come, than burning them in heating systems and in inefficient, turbines and combustion engines.

4.1.6 The means and methods for world-wide remedial action and financing for the transition to the clean, sustainable energy age are embedded in the annexed "Global Energy Charter for Sustainable Development", formulated and updated by an interdisciplinary group of legal and scientific experts from the UN, Governments, NGOs and academia in conjunction with the "Geneva Proclamation for Sustainable, Clean Energy", based on the conclusions of the CLEAN ENERGY 2000 Conference. Suitable implementation tools are relevant ISO and IEC standards, such as the International Standard on Technical Energy Systems Analysis ISO13602-1, the ISO and IEC standards for clean, renewable energy systems and the new ISO standard under preparation on a complete energy statistics and an integrated forecasting methodology.

4.1.7 The minimum world market share growth target for renewable energy shall be 2 % p.a.