Global conference re-commits to renewable energies

BEIJING, China, November 16, 2005 (Refocus Weekly)

Representatives of 78 countries want the international community to strengthen its “commitment to the scaling up of renewable energy development and use, especially in developing countries.”

“Despite the growing expansion in the development and use of renewable sources of energy in developed countries, the combined share of renewable sources in the global primary energy supply remains small and limited,” said delegates to the BIREC renewable energy conference in their final communique. “Most developing countries have not benefited from such expansion.”

“We agree to take further actions at the national, regional and international levels to accelerate the market uptake of renewable energy technologies and increase investment in R&D, especially by developed countries, in order to enhance efficiency and reduce up-front costs,” it states. The statement does not set a goal for renewables, but reaffirms a commitment to implement recent global summits which have called for more renewable energies and “to substantially increase with a sense of urgency the global share of renewable energy in the total energy supply.”

“We recognize that significantly increasing the use of renewable energy faces a number of challenges,” and government policies have a significant impact on attracting investment and accelerating the expansion of renewables. Successful actions for scaling up the use of renewables include “creating supportive policy, legal, and institutional frameworks; securing public sector commitment, including for R&D and procurement policies; levelling the playing field; promoting private sector involvement and a stronger alignment between policy timeframes and timelines for investment; supporting the establishment of national renewable energy industries including small and medium enterprises; and providing access to affordable finance, including micro-finance, and consumer credit mechanisms.”

Renewables improve access to energy services and contribute to the eradication of poverty as required under the UN Millenium Development Goals, and also increase job opportunities, improve air quality and public health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, enhance energy security, and offer a new paradigm for international cooperation, it adds.

Increases in the price of oil have increased the economic risk of relying on imported energy and a volatile world energy market, but development of local sources of hydro, wind, solar, geothermal and modern biomass can allow countries to create diversified energy portfolios that are less vulnerable to price fluctuations. There is a need for “significant financial resources, both public and private,” for investment in renewables, and the statement commits the countries to “creating a positive investment climate to attract private capital for renewable energy.”

It urges international financial institutions such as the World Bank and regional development banks, “to significantly expand their investments in renewable energy technologies” and to facilitate financing to “buy down the risks associated with renewable energy technologies.”


Click here for more info...

Visit http://www.sparksdata.co.uk/refocus/ for your international energy focus!!