Asia told to open energy mart to develop renewable energy

Asia told to open energy mart to develop renewable energy

JAKARTA (AFP): Asian governments hoping to woo private foreign
investors to fund their efforts to develop renewable energy
sources must open up their respective markets first, the region's
senior UN economist said.

"Making the move to renewable energy sources cannot be funded
by overseas direct aid (ODA)," head of the UN Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Kim Hak-su told AFP.

"We have to rely on the private sector and foreign direct
investment with developing countries' partners," he said.

Kim was speaking by phone from Bali on Friday at the
conclusion of a four-day conference of energy ministers and
officials from 40 countries in Asia and the Pacific.

Delegates were presented with United Nations data predicting
the region would be the largest consumer of energy in the world
by 2010.

"The bill for energy investment requirements by 2005 in East
Asia alone will be in the range of US$150 billion to $200 billion
annually," Kim said.

Most of that investment would be funding pollution-producing
coal and oil.

Kim said 42 percent of energy currently consumed in the Asia
Pacific region originated from coal, 40 percent from oil and nine
percent from gas.

Foreign investors were unlikely to make any commitments to
helping countries develop renewable sources such as geo-thermal,
solar and hydro energy unless energy markets were loosened up,
Kim said.

"Their requirements are that we make our markets more
competitive. In many countries in the Asia Pacific region they're
not open."

A plan of action adopted by delegates committed participating
countries to developing policies that would enable the poor to
receive the basic requirement of kerosene and electricity.

It also advocated projects to create 100 percent renewable
energy in the region's small island developing states.

A Bali Declaration was drawn up at the conference to serve as
the region's input for the upcoming session of the United
Nations' Commission on Sustainable Development in New York next
April.

It called on the international community to assist developing
nations to change their energy use patterns by "enhancing
national capacity, mobilizing financial resources and
facilitating technology transfer."

"We consider capacity building and transfer of technology the
most important ... issues that should be taken into account," the
declaration stated.

The conference also underlined obstacles posed by energy
subsidy systems in many countries which favor "conventional
energy and discourage the penetration of renewable energy and
energy efficiency initiatives."

"We will aim to target subsidies carefully for the benefit of
the poor and for the promotion of sustainable energy and to phase
them out gradually over the long term."

Kim also appealed to governments in the region to commit their
own domestic resources to increasing the use of renewable energy
sources.

Energy pricing policies should be structured to support
sustainable energy development, he added.