Energy debate looks set for long haul
Energy debate looks set for long haul
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post,
Nusa Dua, Bali
The debate on the use of alternative energy sources may have
to be continued in Johannesburg amid sharp differences among
developing countries in Group-77 (G-77), with some developing
countries siding with the developed nations, an Indonesian
delegate said on Friday.
The differences centered on the time targets for replacing oil
with cleaner and renewable energy sources, said Agus Pratamasari.
He said the Group of 77 (G-77) plus China -- a negotiating
block designed to boost the developing countries' bargaining
power vis-a-vis the developed countries -- was in disarray.
"The negotiations have become tough because of strong lobbying
by fossil fuel exporters," he said, naming Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Indonesia is another oil exporter in the G-77, but its stance is
mostly moderate.
Bali is hosting the fourth and final preparatory committee
meeting ahead of the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August and September.
A United Nations conference, the Bali meeting is expected to
finalize the action plan for implementing sustainable development
principles prior to the summit, including those in the field of
energy conservation.
But Agus said that the negotiations on energy were progressing
too slowly for them to end by the time the Bali conference closed
on June 7.
The action plan itself, known as the Chairman's Text, and
later on as the Bali Commitment, is supposed to be finalized this
Saturday at the latest.
Three working groups are debating the Chairman's Text. The
first working group is dealing with action plans, the second is
negotiating about the means of implementation and the third is
concerned with institutional architecture.
Negotiations on energy are being undertaken by the first
working group. A contact group has been tasked to seek agreement
on energy. However, stark differences have stalled the
negotiations.
Efforts to get governments to reduce oil consumption and shift
to cleaner and renewable resources have become bogged down due to
the complexity of the issue.
Agus said that some of the G-77 members had sided with
developed countries, notably the U.S., Japan and Canada, in
rejecting time targets for shifting to alternative energy in the
Chairman's Text.
Indonesia and Switzerland suggested that by 2010 the world
should be using renewable energy sources for at least five
percent of energy consumption.
The European Union along with a number of Latin American and
Asian countries have been pushing for a tighter target of 10
percent of total consumption by 2010.
"The U.S. and its allies asserted that the parties which could
set certain time targets would be the energy companies rather
than governments so that it would be better not to commit to
unachievable targets," Agus said.
A member of the U.S. delegation, Griffin Thomson, said the
U.S. considered the time targets proposed under the Chairman's
Text as being difficult to achieve due to technological
constraints.
"When the people of the United States commit to any target,
they take it seriously. I'd like to require the European Union
delegates to tell me how they're going to achieve their targets,"
he said. The U.S. was not opposed to all targets and would
support and endorse those targets in the Chairman's Text that
were achievable."
Another obstacle to an agreement was the question as to what
type of energy should be considered as environmentally friendly
and thus be included in the Chairman's Text.
"We've decided that either we put one paragraph on the time
target for renewable resources usage in the political declaration
text or we will continue to conduct group discussions in
Johannesburg," Agus said.
The contact group, however, has wrapped up discussions on the
importance of providing access to energy for the poor and clean
energy in general.
"We are committed to providing energy for the poor and it does
not have to be from renewable resources as it will be impossible
for the poor to afford alternative energy," Agus said, adding
that another point that had been settled was energy-related
technology transfer to developing countries.
The United Nations' Secretary General for the World Summit on
Sustainable Development, Nitin Desai, said that when looking at
the Chairman's Text one should view it as providing a basis for
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in drawing up their action
plans and programs. The text, he said, should not be locked into
the interests it had accommodated or was representing.
"You cannot expect to find in it everything that needs to be
done because everything does not necessarily have to be
negotiated by everyone," he said in a dialogue on energy with
NGOs on Friday.
Desai said that for the moment it was enough that the meeting
in Bali discussed energy issues outside of its previous context
under the heading of poverty alleviation, lending the issue more
priority.
"The first important step forward is that at least now we have
got recognition that sustainable energy be discussed under the
heading of sustainable energy and not just under the heading of
poverty," he said.