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.