NEW YORK, New York, US, March 7, 2007.
The government of Norway has pledged 30 million Kroner to accelerate clean energy supply in emerging markets.
The three-year funding to the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership is a follow up to the Norwegian Action Plan for Environment in Development. The Norwegian Minister for Development Cooperation says widespread energy poverty is a serious problem for 1.5 billion people who do not have access to electricity.
Without adequate supplies of affordable energy, economic growth is hampered and welfare suffers, explained Erik Solheim. Most people rely on traditional biomass which has serious negative impacts on health and the environment, while using local sources of renewable energy can provide new sources of income and stimulate further economic activity without reliance on imported fuel.
“Partnerships such as REEEP are allowing governments to provide market creation assistance for renewable energy and energy efficiency across the developing world, addressing both poverty and climate change,” says Solheim. “Becoming a donor to the REEEP allows Norway to accelerate the legislative and regulatory frameworks necessary to attract investment into rapidly growing markets such as Brazil, China, India and Sub-saharan Africa, thus lowering carbon emissions.”
REEEP is an alliance of public and private organizations which accelerate and expand the global market for renewables and energy-efficient technologies. It is focused on reducing carbon emissions, improving energy security and ensuring access to clean energy.
“REEEP is extremely pleased to have a three-year funding pledge from the Norwegian government,” says international director Marianne Osterkorn. “Their contribution will allow REEEP to expand our work to reduce GHG emissions across emerging markets and to ensure socio-economic benefits from the implementation of clean energy and energy efficiency.”
Norway will help REEEP to strengthen its activities in India, China, Brazil and Africa. It has 30 projects which target development of policy, finance and business models that can be replicated by governments and project developers.
The partnership has 200 members, including all G8 countries (except Russia) and, last year, was joined by Argentina, Singapore, Romania and Tunisia. REEEP receives funding from Austria, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
