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.