ENERGYGerhard SchroederKey to development

Ted TurnerThe energy challenge

Richard G. LugarPlant power

M. KannappanNew energy for development

Margaret BeckettDelivering change

Ma KaiBenign growth

Leonard GoodBrightening the future

Volume 14 No 3

Our PlanetThe magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme

EDITORIALKlaus Toepfer

and Corrado Clini

14 Benign growthMa Kai, Minister in Charge of the State Development and Reform Commission, China

14 Green energyLiu Shuying, Vice Chairperson of Jilin Provincial People’s Congress and National Project Director forModernized Biomass Energy, China

16 At a glance: Energy

18 Sustainable dreams Chin-Chin Gutierrez, award-winning actress and conservationist: interview

19 Brightening the future Leonard Good, CEOand Chairman of the Global Environment Facility

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This issue of Our Planet has been made possible by the generosity of the United Nations Foundation/Better World Fund.

The contents of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of UNEP, the United Nations Foundation or the editors,nor are they an official record. The designations employed and the presentation do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoeveron the part of UNEP or the UN Foundation concerning the legal status of any country, territory or city or its authority, or concerningthe delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

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Our Planet,the magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)PO Box 30552, Nairobi, KenyaTel (254 20) 621 234; fax 623 927; telex 22068 UNEP KEe-mail: cpiinfo@unep.orgwww.unep.org

ISSN 1013-7394

Director of Publication: Eric FaltEditor: Geoffrey LeanCoordinator: Naomi PoultonSpecial Contributor: Nick NuttallCirculation Manager: Manyahleshal KebedeDesign: Roger WhiskerWeb Editor: Chris CypertProduction: BansonPrinted in the United Kingdom

Front cover: Banson

21 Greening oilPhilip Watts, Chairman of the Committee of Managing Directors of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies

23 Blue-sky thinkingTakeo Fukui, President and CEO of the Honda Motor Co. Ltd

24 Books and products

25 New energy to assault povertyYouba Sokona, Head of Energy Program, ENDA-TM, Senegal

26 New energy entrepreneursFrancis Yamba, Director of the Centre for Energy, Environment and Engineering, Zambia

28 Time to get seriousEileen Claussen, President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change

30 Breaking the iceMaria Maack, Environmental Manager of Icelandic New Energy

32 In my lifetime – 100 per cent renewableAmaidhi Devaraj, student of Law at the University of Bangalore, South India

3 EditorialKlaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP, and Corrado Clini, Director General of the Italian Ministry of Environment and former co-Chair of the G8 Task Force on Renewable Energy

4 Key to developmentGerhard Schroeder, Chancellor of theFederal Republic of Germany

6 The energy challengeTed Turner, Chairman of the UnitedNations Foundation

7 Plant powerRichard G. Lugar, Chairman of the USSenate Foreign Relations Committee

8 Bioenergy: doing well while doing rightTimothy E. Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation; C. Boyden Gray, partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering; John D. Podesta, President of the Center for American Progress

10 New energy for developmentM. Kannappan, Minister of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, India

12 People

13 Delivering changeMargaret Beckett, Secretary of Statefor the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom

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YOUR VIEWSWe would really like to receive yourfeedback on the issues raised in thisedition of Our Planet. Please eithere-mail feedback@ourplanet.com orwrite to:Feedback, Our Planet27 Devonshire RoadCambridge CB1 2BHUnited Kingdom

A s delegates gather in Milan forthe next round of climate changenegotiations, some may wonder

why such an event is necessary whenthe Kyoto Protocol, the internationalinstrument for combating global warm-ing, is not yet in force.

Surely, they will say, we can achievelittle of substance until 55 countriesrepresenting 55 per cent of theemissions of the industrialized worldhave ratified it.

Such doubters should step outsidethe cocoon of gloom and smell theflowers.

In Italy – which hosts this ninthsession of the Conference of the Parties(COP9) to the United Nations FrameworkConvention on Climate Change – forexample, energy producers have beenobliged to deliver a fixed amount of re-newable energy into the national gridsince 1999. A national plan for increasingwind and biomass-based energy gener-ation has been established: its fruitsinclude new 800 megawatt capacity forwind, and 10 megawatts from biomass inMaratta Bassa, Umbria.

New laws, economic incentives andthe fast tracking of projects – both na-tionally inspired and as part of EuropeanUnion initiatives – have helped improvethe prospects for cleaner energy.

Power companies and banks areactively involved, proving yet again thatsaving the planet is a profitable businesswhich generates jobs.

Next year Germany will host theInternational Conference on RenewableEnergies. Last October the UnitedKingdom launched its RenewableEnergy and Energy Efficiency Partner-ship (REEEP) and in November Italylaunched the Mediterranean RenewableEnergy Partnership on the occasion of

the Conference of the Parties to theBarcelona Convention. These are ideasthat were born out of the World Summiton Sustainable Development (WSSD) inJohannesburg last year and modelled onrecommendations made earlier by theG8 Renewable Energy Task Force.

Among early success stories are theinstallation of solar power in Brazil, Indiaand Sri Lanka through partnerships inc-luding BP Solar and Shell Renewables.

REEEP may be the latest initiative ofits kind, but it is by no means the first –or the last. Last year the Global Networkon Energy for Sustainable Development– involving specialized centres in India,Argentina, Senegal, Kenya and othercountries – was launched atJohannesburg.

UNEP and the UN Foundation –whose sister body, the Better WorldFund, has generously supported thisissue of Our Planet – have been de-veloping the Rural Energy EnterpriseDevelopment (REED) programme. It hasthree spin-offs: AREED, in Africa;CREED, in China, and B-REED focusedon the Bahia and Alagoas areas of north-east Brazil. Other supporters include theFund for International Partnerships,E+Co, the Blue Moon Fund, The NatureConservancy and UNEP’s collaborativeRiso centre in Denmark.

REED aims to establish networks ofclean energy entrepreneurs andbusinesses in developing countries.AREED, for example, has invested in 15clean energy enterprises, supportingprojects including the manufacturing of efficient cooking stoves, solar water-heating systems, wind-poweredpumping and improved distribution ofliquefied petroleum gas.

Access to energy is essential if theUnited Nations Millennium Development

Goals and the WSSD Plan of Imple-mentation are to be achieved, and theproportion of the world’s people inpoverty is to be halved by 2015.

Some 3 billion people rely on dung,coal, charcoal and kerosene for cookingand heating. Inefficient use of thesefuels contributes to indoor and local airpollution, linked to up to 5 per cent ofglobal disease.

The Global Environment Facility isbacking an assessment of the solar andwind potential of developing countries.And the Sustainable Energy FinanceInitiative (SEFI), launched only a fewweeks ago at a UNEP Finance Initiativemeeting in Tokyo, Japan, will comple-ment attempts to overcome financialbarriers to a rapid, widespread uptake ofclean energy systems.

These are just some projects, part-nerships and initiatives. Others areunderway in the United States, Japanand elsewhere. Clearly not all will besuccessful. Some may wither and die.But many different kinds of flowers areneeded to make a beautiful bouquet, andso many are now blossoming that thereis the real promise of a less carbonintensive future.

In Milan we must water this garden sothat the initiatives so actively backed bymany countries, companies andcommunities can be growing stronglywhen the Kyoto Protocol finally entersinto force ■

EDITORIALFrom the desks of

KLAUS TOEPFERUnited Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UNEP

and CORRADO CLINIDirector General of the Italian Ministry of Environment and former co-Chair of the G8 Task Force on Renewable Energy

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KEY TO development

GERHARD SCHROEDER says that sustainable energy supplies are essential to combat poverty, prevent crises and conflicts and safeguard natural resources

money we will be helping the developing countries to make energymore efficient and climate friendly.

For example, a project financed by Germany is promoting thedevelopment of energy consulting, the introduction of energyaudits and the use of energy-saving technologies in India. There,electricity is both in short supply and expensive. Energy-intensiveproduction methods only drive up company costs. By introducingmore efficient processes, industry and small businesses could save10 to 20 per cent of their energy costs. As for the impact on climatechange, it would mean 15 million fewer tonnes of CO2 emissionseach year. Several demonstration plants are showing how effectivesuch measures are and how energy conservation not only helpsprotect our climate but also increases competitiveness.

Support for renewable energies

I have issued an invitation to an international conference onrenewable energies to be held in Bonn in June 2004. ‘Renewables2004’ will focus on strategies and measures to provide active sup-port for renewable energies, removing barriers to the expansion ofrenewable energies and developing markets for them around theworld. The conference aspires to commitments to national andregional targets, the adoption of an international action plan and thedrawing up of guidelines for good policies in the energy sector. Iam hopeful that the conference will stimulate a new dynamism inthe worldwide development and expansion of renewable energies.

Sustainable energy supplies are a long-term goal. Germany isplaying its part to that end. Today, we are already leading theindustrialized countries in terms of energy efficiency, but we haveset ourselves still higher standards in our national sustainabilitystrategy. By 2020 we intend to double our energy productivitylevels of 1990.

A round a third of the world’s population lacks adequateaccess to energy supplies. Improving this situationprovides one of the major challenges for future-oriented

policy at the start of the 21st century. Germany is participating inefforts to facilitate sustainable energy supplies all over the world.We expressed this in particular at the Johannesburg World Summitin September 2002 by announcing concrete programmes, whichsent out a strong signal to the international community.Sustainable energy supplies are essential to combat poverty, toprevent crises and conflicts and to safeguard natural resources.

Yet, we are still a long way from achieving this goal. Thequarter of the world’s population that lives in the northernindustrialized countries accounts for three quarters of the globalconsumption of resources. At the same time, these countries arethe source of three quarters of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions– with their effects on the global climate. In the next decades thereis also expected to be a steep rise in energy consumption in thedeveloping countries. Energy efficiency levels in those countries –as well as in some industrialized countries – are low. This isanother reason for the rapidly growing danger posed to the globalclimate by CO2 emissions. To put it simply, sustainable energysupplies can only mean one thing: improving energy efficiencycombined with renewable energy use.

Therefore, developing and industrialized countries bear jointresponsibility. The industrialized countries must adopt newapproaches in industry and society in the pursuit of energyconservation, energy efficiency and renewable energies. For theirpart, the developing countries must be given the opportunity todevelop a sustainable future for themselves to free them fromlong-term dependence on less sustainable energy forms. It was forsuch reasons that the states participating at the JohannesburgSummit agreed that the fights against poverty and for access tosustainable energy must go hand in hand. The European Unionand several additional countries joined together in a group of like-minded countries to commit themselves to timetables and targetsfor increasing the use of renewable energies.

Strategic partnership

The Federal Government of Germany also announced inJohannesburg that it would turn its cooperation with developingcountries into a strategic partnership under a programme ofSustainable Energy for Development. Over the next five years atotal of €1 billion (approximately $1.17 billion) will be madeavailable for this purpose – 500 million for renewable energies and500 million for improving energy efficiency. In providing this

Kenneth Akelis/UNEP/Topham

Developing and industrialized countries bearjoint responsibility ... the fights againstpoverty and for access to sustainable energymust go hand in hand

Germany is also making good progress in the expansion ofrenewable energy. Wind energy is playing a major role in this.Indeed, one third of the world’s wind power is now generated inGermany. Accordingly the economic significance has increased:around 130,000 people are employed in the renewable energiessector here, especially in small and medium-sized businesses. Thegoal of the Federal Government is to raise the proportion ofrenewable energy used in power generation to 12.5 per cent by2010, thus doubling the share it had in 2000.

Sustainable prosperity

In this way, we are developing a model of growth and prosperitythat is sustainable because it is not at the expense of theenvironment, future generations or the developing countries.Because we cannot call on the developing countries to makecareful use of the resources that they have at their disposal if we,the richest countries in the world, are not prepared to contribute thegroundwork. It must be our common goal that successfuleconomic development and the reduction of poverty can becombined with the protection of natural resources, in thedeveloping countries as well as the industrialized ones ■

Gerhard Schroeder is Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

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Balancing the world’s growingneed for energy against ourcollective need for a healthy

environment in many ways lies at theheart of the development challenge.Globally, fossil fuels account fornearly 60 per cent of the emissionsthat are causing the Earth’s atmos-pheric blanket of carbon dioxide tothicken and trap more heat. In theUnited States, fossil fuels contributean even larger share – 85 per cent –of these emissions.

Of all the threats to the world’senvironment, the prospect of climatechange looms largest. There isalmost complete consensus in thescientific community that our climateis changing and warming; theremaining uncertainty is about howfast and how much this will impactthe globe.

The responsible course in the faceof these truths – in the face of risksthat large – is to get moving in the right direction. Increased energyefficiency and increased use ofrenewable energy are tools to reducecarbon emissions that are readilyavailable today, and their use wouldgrow with economic incentives.

Energy and human development

Of the world’s 6 billion people, onethird enjoy the kind of ‘energy ondemand’ that North Americans takefor granted, and another third havesuch energy services intermittently.The final third – 2 billion people –simply lack access to modern energyservices. Not coincidentally, theenergy-deprived are the world’s most

impoverished, living on less than $2 per day. Their ranks will continueto grow. According to UN estimates,the populations of the 50 poorestnations will triple in size over the next50 years. Without access to modern,reliable energy sources, social andeconomic development is notpossible.

A number of new models havehelped demonstrate, on a limitedscale, various approaches for finan-cing and delivering affordable ruralenergy services. Our challenge is tobuild on these successes and continueto increase their impact by scaling upprogrammes that work and encouragethe flow of private capital into sus-tainable energy development.

UN Foundation role

To date, the UN Foundation has in-vested more than $28 million in UnitedNations projects working to address

the energy challenge. One of ourflagship projects, African Rural EnergyEnterprise Development (AREED),seeks to develop new sustainableenergy enterprises that use clean,efficient and renewable energytechnologies to meet the energy needsof under-served populations, whilereducing the environmental andhealth consequences of existingenergy use patterns.

The AREED approach offers ruralenergy entrepreneurs a combinationof enterprise development servicesand start-up financing. This integratedfinancial and technical support allowsentrepreneurs to plan and structuretheir companies in a manner thatprepares them for growth and makeseventual investments by mainstreamfinancial partners less risky.

In Mali, where firewood andcharcoal represent more than 90 percent of the country’s household energyconsumption, AREED is working with alocal business to develop alternativecooking fuels to decrease the depen-dence on traditional sources whichcauses forest degradation and desert-ification and contributes to overallpoverty. The local company is ad-dressing this need by manufacturingbriquettes from agricultural by-products, such as coconut husks,hulls of groundnut, sawdust and ricehusks. AREED is assisting the com-pany with a market study and strategythat will allow it to market its productmore effectively and prepare thecompany for business expansion.

AREED has been so successful thatthe UN Foundation has expanded itssupport to include similar activities inBrazil and China ■

Ted Turner is Chairman of the UnitedNations Foundation.

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The energychallengeTED TURNER describes the imperatives of tacklingenergy poverty and climatechange – and work done by the UN Foundation to address them

The responsible course … is to get moving in the rightdirection

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impact. For the United States, that will mean a major shift in the way we conduct and fund agricultural science.Fundamental research will generate the innovations thatwill be necessary to feed the world.

The United States can take a leading position in aproductivity revolution. And our success at increasing foodproduction may play a decisive humanitarian role in thesurvival of billions of people and the health of our planet.

Directly related to our challenge to feed a growing worldis the necessity of providing a sustainable resource for fuels,chemicals and materials. I believe that agriculture and thewider sphere of plants represent a resource not only forfood, but also for the fuel, energy and materials essential tomodern society. Scientists have developed biotechnologies –genetically engineered yeasts, enzymes and bacteria –capable of breaking down plants, trees, grasses andagricultural residues (known as biomass) into theirconstituent chemical building blocks, principally in the formof complex sugars. From this intermediate step, we canproduce a wide variety of bio-based products includinganimal feed, chemicals and – importantly – fuel.

If a significant percentage of products currently derivedfrom petroleum can be produced from biomass, the majorindustrial economies will improve their strategic security by

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In a world confronted by global terrorism, turmoil in theMiddle East, burgeoning nuclear threats and other crises,it is easy to lose sight of the long-range challenges. But

we do so at our peril. One of the most daunting of them ismeeting the world's need for food and energy in this century.At stake is not only preventing starvation and saving theenvironment, but also world peace and security. History tellsus that states may go to war over access to resources, andthat poverty and famine have often bred fanaticism andterrorism. Working to feed the world will minimize factorsthat contribute to global instability and the proliferation ofweapons of mass destruction.

With the world population expected to grow from 6 billionpeople today to 9 billion by mid-century, the demand foraffordable food will increase well beyond currentinternational production levels. People in rapidly developingnations will have the means greatly to improve theirstandard of living and caloric intake. Inevitably, that meanseating more meat. This will raise demand for feed grain atthe same time that the growing world population will needvastly more basic food to eat.

Complicating a solution to this problem is a dynamic thatmust be better understood in the West: developing countriesoften use limited arable land to expand cities to house theirgrowing populations. As good land disappears, peopledestroy timber resources and even rainforests as they try tocreate more arable land to feed themselves. The long-termenvironmental consequences could be disastrous for theentire globe.

Productivity revolution

To meet the expected demand for food over the next 50years, we in the United States will have to grow roughly threetimes more food on the land we have. That’s a tall order. Myfarm in Marion County, Indiana, for example, yields on aver-age 8.3 to 8.6 tonnes of corn per hectare – typical for a farmin central Indiana. To triple our production by 2050, we willhave to produce an annual average of 25 tonnes per hectare.

Can we possibly boost output that much? Well, it’s beendone before. Advances in the use of fertilizer and water,improved machinery and better tilling techniques combinedto generate a threefold increase in yields since 1935 – on ourfarm back then, my dad produced 2.8 to 3 tonnes perhectare. Much US agriculture has seen similar increases.

But of course there is no guarantee that we can achievethose results again. Given the urgency of expanding foodproduction to meet world demand, we must invest muchmore in scientific research and target that money towardprojects that promise to have significant national and global

Agriculture and the wider sphere of plantsrepresent a resource not only for food, but also for the fuel, energy and materialsessential to modern society

Plant POWERRICHARD G. LUGAR calls for a new green revolution to combat global warming andreduce world instability

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Richard G. Lugar inspecting corn on his US farm.

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reducing their dependence on Middle Eastern oil and allcountries, rich and poor, can spend far less on oil imports,dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and helpstrengthen their own rural communities while simul-taneously building a new bio-based industry worth hundredsof billions of dollars worldwide per year.

Shift to bio-based fuels

Bio-based fuels such as ethanol have clear potential to besustainable, low cost and high performance, are compatiblewith both current and future transportation systems, andprovide near-zero net greenhouse gas emissions. The impactof bio-ethanol on greenhouse gas emissions is particularlysignificant because the transportation sector relies almostexclusively on fossil fuels and accounts for one third of total

greenhouse gas emissions. A shift to bio-based fuels is along-term approach to the problem of global warming thatdoes not require a shift from automobiles or result inincreased costs for US employers and consumers.

As my friend, former CIA director James Woolsey, whohas worked with me on this issue, likes to say, this is not yourfather’s ethanol. We currently derive ethanol from corn andother starches, an energy-intensive process that results inan expensive product. He notes that using biocatalysts, orother technologies nearing commercialization like thermaldepolymerization, we can cut costs by orders of magnitude,making bio-ethanol competitive with gasoline even if theprice of oil drops to $10-13 a barrel. Equally important,large-scale production won’t require us to plough upmarginal land or displace food crops.

Before we can reap these benefits from the sustainable

A gricultural trade barriers remain oneof the most stubborn and persistentobstacles to a truly open and fair

global trading system. Despite high-mindedrhetoric about the benefits of free-marketprinciples, Western countries have resistedthe removal of the $300 billion a year insubsidies that long have tilted the system intheir favour. These subsidies promotemarket inefficiencies and cripple the abilityof some of the poorest nations on Earth tocompete, even in their own markets.

These policies are not just inefficientand contrary to our stated beliefs in freeand fair trade; they are also a cruel obstacleto progress for farmers in other lands whoare struggling to make a living. Dairy cowsin Europe and Japan receive more each dayin government subsidies than the rural poorare able to earn in the developing world.

Technical advances in the science ofbioenergy – the conversion of agriculturalwastes and other organic material to fuelsand other products – offer a way out of this

seemingly intractable conflict and couldhave surprising payoffs in other areas aswell: economic growth in the developingworld, reductions in the emission of green-house gases, and easing the world’sdangerous dependence on oil.

Multiple benefits

Bioenergy – growing one’s own fuel –offers the opportunity to do well whiledoing right. For several decades, the UnitedStates has promoted development of eth-anol because it offers multiple nationalbenefits – aiding farmers, the environmentand the nation’s energy security. But wehave only scratched the surface of bio-energy’s promise.

Most ethanol is produced from corn,using only the starch in the kernels. Butnew conversion technologies could lead to the cost-effective use of a wide varietyof feedstocks and agricultural waste pro-

Bioenergy: doing wellwhile doing rightTIMOTHY E. WIRTH, C. BOYDEN GRAY and JOHN D. PODESTA describe the great potential for energysecurity and the environment in growing one’s own fuel

Jacky Sawalha/UNEP/Topham Romain/UNEP/Topham Natalia C. Mazzucchelli/UNEP/Topham

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biomass resource, the cost of the new technology must beslashed. Again, research offers the only systematic meansfor creating the innovations and technical improvements thatwill bring down biomass processing costs. Given the privatesector’s short-term horizon, and because many benefits ofbiomass processing are in the public interest, governmentsand multilateral institutions should take the lead in thisimportant effort and invest in the promise of a new greenrevolution.

Remarkable opportunity

From the days when I worked on our farm as a boy throughmy time in the United States Senate, where I have alwaysserved on the Senate Agriculture Committee, I havewitnessed tremendous change in the way we farm in the

United States and around the world. Although we are facedwith enormous challenges for the future, at no time hasagriculture been as exciting and full of opportunity as it istoday. Pessimists may say that humanity has got itself into ahopeless muddle, but I have faith in the limitless supply ofhuman ingenuity. We would be extremely shortsighted not totake advantage of the scientific breakthroughs that haveoccurred in agriculture and biomass conversion. If we do, wewill make life far less dangerous and far more prosperousfor future generations. If we do not, those generations willlook back in angry wonder at the remarkable opportunitythat we missed ■

Richard G. Lugar, a US Senator from Indiana, is Chairman ofthe Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a member andformer chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

ducts like corn stalks and wheat straw to produce ethanol and other products,such as chemicals and plastics, that arecurrently derived from fossil fuels. Thesetechnologies allow farmers to harvestdouble dividends – selling cash crops likecorn and wheat, and converting theleftover ‘waste’ to fuel for thetransportation sector.

Bioenergy’s potential is huge – eco-nomically and environmentally. Currently,ethanol accounts for less than 2 per cent ofUS gas consumption. The new bioenergytechnologies could dramatically increasethat figure, producing as much as 150billion litres – the equivalent of one quarterof our current gasoline use. Bioenergy willalso help prevent further global warmingbecause the carbon dioxide emitted as it isproduced and used is absorbed by theplants as they grow. The net greenhousegas emissions are near zero.

Moreover, bioenergy could spur

economic development around the world.Advanced ethanol technologies will pro-vide poor countries with a new way to meettransportation needs that are necessary pre-requisites to economic progress andgrowth. With the right technology andbasic training, these countries will be ableto grow their own fuels, allowing them toredirect scarce foreign exchange earningsaway from imported oil to more productivenational investments – including criticalsocial investments in health, education andwelfare.

Productive subsidies

The West is unlikely to abandon agri-cultural subsidies – but it can direct them ina much more productive and less de-structive manner. By shifting subsidiesfrom food crops to bioenergy production,the United States and others can supportfarm income, reduce oil dependence and

make environmental progress, both athome and abroad.

With gasoline prices reaching all-timehighs in many areas, climate changethreatening the stability of the world’secosystem and the dangers of persistentglobal poverty increasingly clear, indus-trialized nations should lead the worldtoward the rapid development of clean,abundant biofuels ■

Timothy E. Wirth is President of the UnitedNations Foundation; C. Boyden Gray, apartner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering,was Counsel to former President GeorgeH.W. Bush; and John D. Podesta,President of the Center for AmericanProgress, was Chief of Staff to formerPresident Bill Clinton.

Bioenergy’s potential ishuge – economically andenvironmentally

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The Indian energy mix is a combination of commercialand traditional sources. Thirty per cent of energyneeds are met through traditional renewable sources

such as biomass and animal waste. More than 65 per cent ofthe population which does not have access to modern energyservices is dependent on biomass, animal waste and kero-sene for cooking and lighting. In 2001-2002, the consumptionof traditional fuels was estimated at 140 million tonnes of oilequivalent. Projections indicate that in 2011-2012 their sharewill come down by 3 percentage points to 27 per cent.

During the last two decades India’s renewable energyprogrammes have grown in volume, technological maturityand reach. Initially, the thrust of the national effort wasdirected towards capacity building and research and de-velopment, mostly in national laboratories and educationalinstitutions. However, major expansion was witnessed inactivities from the 1980s onwards, focusing on large-scaledemonstration and subsidy-driven extension activitiesmainly in providing energy services to rural areas throughbiogas, improved cooking stoves and solar energy. Theseprogrammes created awareness, generated field experi-ence, and helped set up a vast network of institutions andnon-governmental organizations reaching right down toself-employed workers at the grassroots level. The empha-sis is currently on commercialization – with private sectorparticipation in power generation from wind, small hydroand biomass combustion/gasification, as well as in industrialapplications of solar and other forms of renewable energy.

Reaching millions

Wind, biomass and small hydropower contribute about 3.5per cent of the installed capacity for electric power. Againstan estimated renewable energy potential of about 80,000megawatts from commercially exploitable sources, morethan 4,000 megawatts has been harnessed to date. Biogasand solar lighting systems have reached 3.5 million and 1million households respectively. Many technologies arecurrently at the threshold of economic viability. A modestmanufacturing capacity has been set up in the country, andinstitutional mechanisms developed to support the deploy-ment of renewable energy technologies.

The spread of these various renewable energy tech-nologies in India has so far been aided by a mix of policy andsupport measures. Incentives available include soft loans,concessional rates of customs duty, exemption from exciseduty and sales tax, and 80 per cent accelerated depreciationbenefit to commercial projects. Subsidies are available insome programmes – especially those deployed in ruralareas, such as improved woodstoves, biogas plants, solarlanterns and home lighting systems.

India faces a major challenge of providing energy to morethan 600,000 human settlements spread over 300,000square kilometres – with a population of 1 billion which isstill growing and expected to stabilize at around 1.6 billionduring the next 40 to 50 years or so. The task is severelycompounded by low living standards, with around 75 per centof the population below a per capita per day internationalpoverty line of $2 at purchasing power parity (PPP) rates.Their low purchasing power has resulted in low levels of percapita energy and electricity consumption.

In this context the major national aims are: ■■ providing reliable energy supply through a diverse and

sustainable fuel mix that addresses security concerns; ■■ the speedy commercial exploitation of renewable power

potential; ■■ the eradication and removal of energy poverty across the

country; ■■ ensuring availability and affordability of energy supply,

including safety aspects related to it; ■■ electrification of all households in remote villages

by 2012; ■■ electrification of around 18,000 remote villages through

renewables by 2007 (those that are not likely to beconnected to the grid by 2012);

■■ 10 per cent power capacity addition through renewablesby 2012;

■■ 3 million family-type biogas plants and 7 million solarlighting systems by 2012.

New energy for developmentM. KANNAPPAN describes India’s programme to bring renewable sources of energy to its villages and to become a world leader in the new technologies

We in India recognize that efficientmanagement of energy is essential inachieving the goals of sustainabledevelopment

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India is also looking forward to becoming a global leader innew and renewable energy technologies. Its efforts promo-ting renewable energy are in harmony with global concerns.

At present the global interest in renewable energy ismainly on account of climate change. The global concernscan be articulated as the need to: ■■ cap global CO2 emission levels by around 60 per cent by

2050 to arrest the process of global climate change; ■■ cap and roll back higher levels of fossil fuel consumption:

liquid hydrocarbons would otherwise become beyond thereach of many;

■■ work towards lowering the relative price of new andrenewable power technologies through a continuous andfocused research and development effort;

■■ improve access to reliable, affordable, economicallyviable, socially acceptable and environmentally soundenergy services and resources.

These global concerns are expected to lead to the usheringin of what has been termed a carbon-free economy which isexpected to be based on a fuel mix mainly provided by thegreen or renewable energy technologies.

The key to realizing the full potential of renewables isaccepted to be the development and deployment of bothnew and existing technologies. We have been tracking tech-nological developments and have initiated research anddevelopment in some frontier areas. Our perception is thatthe future energy technological scenario would be: ■■ more diverse than today; ■■ a versatile fuel mix, on account of new and emerging

technologies including CO2 capture and storage;

■■ local generation through biomass/wind/hydro etc; ■■ micro-generation through new innovative end-use

packages from fuel cells, solar photovoltaics, etc.

However, the underlying objective, while progressing on thisroad map, has to be that new and renewable energy tech-nologies are accessible, affordable, reliable and safe forutilization.

Meeting energy goals

We in India recognize that efficient management of energyis essential in achieving the goals of sustainable develop-ment. We consider new and renewable energy developmentand deployment to be of great importance for long-termenergy supply security, decentralization of energy supply(particularly for the benefit of the rural population), andenvironmental benefits and sustainability. In this context,the Indian renewable energy programme can be said to be agoal-oriented effort to meet the country’s energy require-ments in an environmentally sound way ■

M. Kannappan is the Minister of Non-Conventional EnergySources, India.

Nitin Sawal/UNEP/Topham

Indranil Sarkar/UNEP/Topham

Somabhai B. Mistry/UNEP/Topham

B. Rajan Babu/UNEP/Topham

UNEP is launching a new international environmentalaward which each year will recognize six

Champions of the Earth,one from each region ofthe world. The championswill be rewarded for theircreativity, vision and lead-ership – and for thepotential of their workand ideas for replicationworldwide. See www.unep.org/champions ■

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Two outstanding inter-nationalists, and friends of

UNEP, have died tragically:Anna Lindh, the SwedishForeign Minister, who wasmurdered in Stockholm; andSergio Vieira de Mello, theUnited Nations envoy in Iraq,who was killed in the carbomb attack on the UNoffices in Baghdad. They weretwo of the world’s mostcapable and inspirational public figures.

Anna Lindh entered the Swedish cabinet as Minister of theEnvironment in 1994 and served in that post for four years. Shewas known for her honesty and negotiating skills and inspiredtrust on all sides. A message pinned to a single red rose outsidethe hospital where she died said: ‘You were proof that anordinary hard-working girl could take on the world.’

Sergio Vieira de Mello, the High Commissioner for HumanRights who was on secondment to Iraq for a four-monthassignment, had unparalleled experience of handling difficultsituations: he had successfully been both the special envoy inKosovo after the war and Interim Administrator of East

Timor after the withdrawal ofIndonesia. He was steadilybuilding trust in Iraq beforehis death.

Kofi Annan, the UNSecretary-General said ofVieira de Mello: ‘I can think ofno-one we could less afford tospare or who would be moreacutely missed.’ Millions ofSwedes, and many millionsmore around the world, will feelthe same about Lindh ■

Xie Zhenhua – the initiator,leader and implementer of

China’s environmental protec-tion programme – and DenerGiovanini, who has created asuccessful network against wildanimal trafficking in Brazil,share the 2003 UNEP SasakawaEnvironment Prize. Mr Xie, whonow holds the post of Minister,State Environmental ProtectionAdministration of China, has

been working in the field for more than two decades, bringingabout significant improvements in his country. He initiated awater treatment campaign that brought safe and cleandrinking water to 200 million people. He guided the phase-out of polluting and wasteful processes, equipment and products at over 100,000 medium and small-sized enter-prises and developed low-pollution or no-pollution industriesin their place, finding solutions for laid-off workers.

Under his leadership, 1,757 nature reserves – covering13.5 per cent of the area of China – have been created. He hasencouraged the growth of environmental non-governmentalorganizations, and of media coverage of the area. He hassucceeded in persuading Government authorities to reroutekey infrastructure projects to avoid sensitive sites. And he hasbrought about his country’s implementation of the MontrealProtocol, under which China has accounted for half thephase-out of ozone-depleting substances across thedeveloping world. Over the past seven years China’s GDP hasgrown by 8 per cent annually, but the total discharge of themain pollutants has declined every year.

Mr Giovanini createdthe National Network forCombating Wild AnimalTrafficking in 1999 to curb,and ultimately stop, anillegal trade worth $1.5billion a year in Brazil. In just four years he hasput in place an effective,multi-pronged and rapidlyexpanding network in acountry which has anti-trafficking laws but lacksthe infrastructure to add-ress the problem system-atically. Some 1,600 police

and Government agents have been trained, and police andcustoms officials have been linked with a network of 234volunteer veterinarians. The network has also foundalternative work for poor people engaged in the trade, byteaching them how to tend wild animals and constructappropriate habitats for them ■

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A low-carbon economy is attainable.All countries need to have theserious intention to move towards it

and thus enhance our collective energysecurity.

We in the United Kingdom have alreadytaken a major step. In February 2003 wepublished our Energy White Paper – theUnited Kingdom’s first comprehensiveforward-looking statement of energypolicy in over 20 years, acknowledging thefundamental interdependence of economicgrowth, social progress and environmentalobjectives. A long-term strategy, its keyaim is a 60 per cent cut in carbon dioxideemissions by about 2050.

But a global low-carbon economy willnot be realized just because the UnitedKingdom and some like-minded countrieswish it. Global participation is essentialand governments cannot deliver it alone.Policy makers, business and civil societyneed to work closely together to deliver thechanges we need.

Last year at the Johannesburg WorldSummit on Sustainable Development, Ilaunched the idea of the Renewable Energyand Energy Efficiency Partnership,(REEEP), founded by a group of govern-ments, businesses and non-governmentalorganizations who felt that partnership wascrucial to delivering the sustainable energycommitments we all agreed at the Summit.

I believe it to be a key vehicle forturning such commitments into positiveoutcomes, harnessing the best ideas fromacross the globe to achieve just this.

Overcoming barriers

Efficient energy use will be essential.Through the REEEP, our experience andthose of many other countries in imp-lementing energy efficiency policies andprogrammes can benefit all. We in theUnited Kingdom very much look forwardto learning from the experience of others.

We also need an urgent and substantialincrease in the use of renewable energysources. Through the REEEP we can worktogether to achieve this.

Barriers to the uptake of renewable andenergy efficiency technologies remain:inappropriate policies, subsidies and struc-tural arrangements; problems in accessingfinance; and a lack of human and instit-utional capacity. Overcoming them re-quires concerted effort from governments,businesses, financial institutions and the

rest of civil society. The REEEP can helpchannel this activity at a regional and aglobal level, ensuring that climate-friendlypolicies go hand in hand with economicgrowth, poverty reduction and respect forthe varied needs of developing countries.

We need to deliver increased energyefficiency and use of renewable energy.More technological development andinternational cooperation can help. Weneed a global partnership of governments,businesses and other stakeholders workingtogether to foster market growth in renew-able and energy efficiency technologiesand striving to remove policy, technical,

market and regulatory barriers to it.Climate-friendly technologies can helpcreate a competitive and sustainable econ-omy, while showing that ambitious andlong-term targets on climate change areachievable.

Partners in the REEEP will work inthree main areas:■■ Identifying and removing marketbarriers. These will be different dependingon location, so the REEEP has animportant regional dimension. A networkof regulators – or a series of networks – islikely to be one of its early achievements. ■■ Helping to match finance with inno-vative renewable and energy efficiencyprojects. By facilitating links betweenbusiness and other innovators, REEEPpartners will promote sustainable energyprojects at the national and regional level –such as the development of energy servicesmarkets, tradable renewable energy certifi-cate schemes and the European Unioncarbon emissions trading scheme.■■ Having an important communicationsrole, promoting and explaining the benefitsof renewable energy and energy efficiencyto international organizations, govern-ments, regulators, business and other keystakeholders.

Opening doors

As a global partnership, the REEEP offersan opportunity to influence the futuredirection of a new and expanding marketand a unique access to key policy makersand regulators. It opens doors to new tech-nology and the opportunity for innovationsto be shared globally. It provides thechance to evaluate options against what hasworked – and what has not – in differentcountries and regions.

It has already demonstrated its worth. Aregional plan was drawn up at a recentREEEP partners meeting in Beijing toenable countries to work together to deliverenergy efficiency and increase the use ofrenewable energy.

A global low-carbon economy is withinour grasp. But we need to work together toachieve it, to reduce costs and share know-ledge, experience and practice. TheREEEP will play a vital role in helping usto get there ■

Margaret Beckett is Secretary of State forthe Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,United Kingdom.

DeliveringCHANGEMARGARET BECKETT

outlines a new initiative to break down barriers to

increasing energy efficiency and the use of

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Energy brings people light and promotes the develop-ment of civilization. But it also produces pollution onour planet, facing us with the challenge of how better

to protect the environment.There are great development prospects and vast

commercial opportunities in China’s energy growth. In 2002,the Chinese consumed the equivalent of 1.15 tonnes ofstandard coal and 1,292 kilowatt-hours of power per capita,lower than the world’s average. By 2020, when China’s percapita GDP reaches $3,000 a year, each of our people will beconsuming almost twice as much energy, the equivalent of2 tonnes of standard coal every 12 months, while thecountry’s total consumption will have increased to theequivalent of 2.5 billion tonnes.

China is unswervingly adhering to a sustainable energy

development strategy in the new millennium, minimizingenergy consumption’s impact on the environment whilepromoting energy development. It is:■■ Promoting restructuring of the energy mix. The share ofoil and natural gas in primary energy consumption will beincreased, and measures will be taken to raise theproportion of hydro, nuclear and wind power in China’selectricity generation capacity from 25.6 per cent in 2000 to36 per cent in 2020.

Benign growthMA KAI describes how China is committed to a sustainable development energy strategy as it doubles consumption in lessthan two decades

Eleven years ago Hechengli, in thenortheast corner of China, beganplanning to become an Ecological

Village in Jilin Province. Now it ispioneering again, as host to a revolution-ary new energy project which could provea model for China and much of thedeveloping world.

A combined heat and power plant, to be fuelled by corn stalks and otheragricultural wastes, has been built on a hilloverlooking the village of 224 householdsin one of the most fertile parts of thecountry. Financed jointly by the local Jilin Provincial Government and theUnited Nations Development Programme(UNDP), it is designed to produce cooking

gas, heat and electricity simultaneouslyand to demonstrate the technical, eco-nomic and market viability of a modernbiomass gasification system. The UNDPfunds are being provided through a grantfrom the UN Foundation.

Jilin Province, home to just 2 per centof China’s population, produces 14 percent of its corn. The corn stalks currentlypose a waste problem, but could become avaluable local resource to reduce povertyand support sustainable development.Clean, low-cost heat and power, based onsuch biomass, could increase living stand-ards, promote industry and create jobshere and in rural areas throughoutdeveloping countries – while cuttingdangerous indoor air pollution fromtraditional cooking stoves and combatingglobal warming.

Expanding operations

Biomass has already successfully beenturned into gas in Jilin and other Chineseprovinces to provide a clean cooking fuelfor rural villages, but these projects havenot been economically attractive becausethey generally only operate for about sixhours every day, which is not sufficient torecover the capital cost. The Hechengliproject will expand the plant incrementally

GreenenergyLIU SHUYING describes a pioneering project toprovide heat and powerfrom waste corn stalks in rural China

to meet the village’s needs for electricityand heat – in an area where annualtemperatures average just 2.5°C – and sellsurplus power to the national grid. Theadded revenues from the expanded

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People are optimistic aboutbeing at the cutting edge ofenergy technology,expanding industry and eco-tourism, and reducingpollution

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■■ Promoting the clean use of coal and cutting emissions ofvarious pollutants. China will make efforts to promote andcommercialize clean coal power generation technologieslike coal washing, coal selection and coal concentration.Research will be carried out on carbon collection and the useof hydrogen.■■ Sticking to its effective energy-saving policy, which hasachieved obvious results over many years. In the newmillennium, China will increase people’s awareness of

energy saving, and implement effective measures morewidely. Energy saving is regarded as a fundamental approachfor China’s sustainable development.■■ Coordinating energy development and environmentalprotection as the common aspiration of human beings: thisrequires joint efforts by the governments and people of thewhole world. The Chinese Government will actively promoteenergy cooperation with the international community. Wehope we can carry out exchange and cooperation, learnadvanced technology and share experience from othercountries. We are ready to establish an active dialogue withother nations and international energy organizations on suchissues as energy safety and supplying energy to poverty-stricken people. As a member of the ‘global village’, Chinawill work together with all the world’s countries for a morecivilized, more affluent and cleaner future ■

Ma Kai is Minister in Charge of the State Development andReform Commission, China.

China is adhering to a sustainable energydevelopment strategy in the newmillennium, minimizing energyconsumption’s impact on the environment

factories in summer and by heatinggreenhouses for growing vegetables inwinter. Use of the gas instead of traditionalcooking fuels (wood and coal) will greatlyreduce the high levels of indoor airpollution that cause acute respiratoryinfections, chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease, lung cancer, tuberculosis, asthmaand blindness across the developing world.

Environmentally sensitive

Jilin Province is an ideal place for theproject because it has not just abundantbiomass and a need for rural development,but an emerging industrial base and agovernment with the commitment neededto ensure the sustained growth of such anew industry. Hechengli, as an EcologicalVillage, already has an environmentallysensitive development plan, and is wellplaced to use extra energy to promote non-polluting industry and expand the

greenhouse production which already pro-vides income for over half its households.

The village has a dynamic, entre-preneurial and community-minded leader-ship and the people are optimistic aboutbeing at the cutting edge of energytechnology, expecting more energy for less labour, expanding industry and eco-tourism, and reducing pollution.

Cornerstone of progress

There is a vast potential market for themodern biomass technology. The provincegenerates some 40 million tonnes of agri-cultural residues a year. If just half of thiswere to be converted to clean gas andelectricity in this way it could meet theneeds of more than 1.7 million households– half Jilin’s population – while adding1,400 megawatts of new generatingcapacity to the grid, an increase of nearly30 per cent. And the example could bereplicated around the world, makingsustainable development through modernbiomass technology a cornerstone of rural progress ■

Liu Shuying is the Vice Chairperson ofJilin Provincial People’s Congress andNational Project Director for ModernizedBiomass Energy, China.

operation of the plant will make iteconomically attractive.

Furthermore, the people of the villagebelieve it will also help them expand theirindustry by providing process heat for

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At a glance: EnergyEvery year millions of people –

many of them children under five– die because they cannot usemodern sources of energy. Two inevery five of the people on the planethave to burn wood, charcoal, dungand other forms of ‘traditionalbiomass’, usually on open stoves andfires. The smoke contains a cocktailof poisonous chemicals, which swirlsaround their homes, causing acuterespiratory infections, asthma, can-cer and other diseases. It is one ofthe world’s greatest, and least

publicized, environmental crises,and it is getting worse as the spreadof commercial energy fails to keep upwith population growth and more andmore people are forced to resort totraditional fuels.

Meanwhile, the energy use of therich is mainly to blame for anotherescalating emergency – globalwarming. Carbon dioxide (C02)emissions from the burning of fossilfuels have more than doubled since1965: global temperatures andatmospheric concentrations of the

The poorer a country, the more its peoplegenerally have to depend on traditionalbiomass, and the more likely they are tosicken and die as a result. Tanzanianchildren who die of acute respiratoryinfection before their fifth birthday arethree times more likely than healthy onesto have had to sleep in a room with anopen cooking stove.

Trends in use of biomass as cooking fuel relative to GNP per capita(end of 20th century)

% of population using biomass as cooking fuel

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Share of biomass in national energy consumption, 2001

Biomass energy, by type, 2001

Renewable energy, by type, 2001

Global burden of disease, selectedmajor risk factors(end of 20th century)

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Some two and a half billion people have no access to any form of modern energy and have to burn‘traditional biomass’ – such as wood, charcoal and dung – for heating and cooking. In somecountries it provides over 90 per cent of national energy supplies. It dominates the global use ofrenewable energies – but in many ways this is a misnomer, for cutting trees and removing wastesfrom the land faster than they are replaced reduces its fertility and leads to soil erosion.

Biomass79.9%

Solidbiomass/charcoal

96%

Liquidbiomass 1%

Renewable municipalsolid waste 2%

Gas from biomass1%

Geothermal3.2%

Hydro 16.4%

Solar/tide0.3%

Wind 0.2%

Illicit drug use

Outdoor air pollution

Physical inactivity

Hypertension

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Unsafe sex*

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Indoor air pollution

Alcohol use

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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8% of total disease burden *including

unwanted pregnancy

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CO2 emissions, all sourcesBillion tonnes carbon per year

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greenhouse gas have duly risen too. Signs of climate change are alreadyappearing: retreating glaciers, thin-ning sea ice, rising sea levels, andmore frequent, more intense stormsand droughts. Disaster threatensunless the rate of change is broughtunder control.

Developed countries emit most of the C02. Per capita emissions areten times higher in North Americathan in developing nations as awhole. Rich countries urgently needto reduce their energy consumption,

through conservation – manyexperts call for a fourfold increase inefficiency by 2012 – just as poorones need to increase their ownenergy consumption efficiently inorder to develop.

Modern renewable sources ofenergy – using the sun, the wind andsmall-scale hydroelectric power, forexample – can help tackle bothcrises. Distributed free by nature,they can bring clean energy andelectricity to the scattered villageswhere about half the world’s people

live. And their vast potential couldallow developed countries to moveonto sustainable energy paths thatcombat global warming and otherpollution. But they have received far too little attention: solar andwind power, though growing fast,still provide only about 0.02 per cent apiece of the world’s energysupplies. A new energy revolution islong overdue.

Geoffrey Lean

Priorities for energy R&D in majorindustrialized countries(end of 20th century)

Regional share of total primaryenergy supply, 2001

World primary energy supply, 2001Billion tonnes oil equivalent

Atmospheric CO2 concentrationsParts per million by volume

Rate of global temperature changeoC per ten years

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Africa 5%Latin America 4%

Middle East 4% Non OECD in Europe 1%

OECD 54%

China 12%

Asia 11%

FormerUSSR 9%

Other renewables 1%

Nuclear 7%

Hydro 2%

Combustible renewablesand waste 11%

Coal 23%

Oil 35%

Naturalgas 21%

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Fossil fuels still provide almost 80 per cent ofthe world’s energy, though this has declinedfrom about 86 per cent in 1971. They aremainly burned by the less than a fifth ofhumanity that lives in the OECD countries.Modern renewable energy still provides a tinyproportion, and most of this comes fromhydroelectric power from big dams which canthemselves damage the environment andsocieties.

Nuclear power has dominated researchfunding in developed countries for decades,but has failed to meet its promise. Thebuilding of new reactors declined sharplyfrom the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, and fewhave been started over the last 15 years.Much more research is needed on renewablesif they are to meet their potential and helpboth developed and developing countriestowards sustainable development.

Global temperatures – and CO2 concentrations– will continue to rise, but the rate of increasecan be cut. In four UNEP scenarios – MarketsFirst, Policy First, Security First andSustainability First – only the last putsconcentrations on a trajectory to stabilize bymid-century and reduces the rate oftemperature increase over 50 years. But eventhis ends up with an increase of well over 0.1oCa decade, the level above which damage toecosystems is likely to occur.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60% of R&D funding

RenewablesNon-renewables

World OECD China Asia Former Africa Latin Middle Non-OECDUSSR America East in Europe

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Onscreen, Chin-Chin Gutierrez, one of the Philippines’ mostcelebrated film stars, has recently played a sophisticatedvillain in a popular national soap opera. In real life, she

spends a third of her time campaigning for sustainabledevelopment – from warning against climate change to digging holes and composting rubbish– and has been hailed by TIME magazine as a hero for it.

The winner of both ‘best actress’ and ‘best supporting actress’ in the Asian Television awards,among other prizes – and with an extraordinary versatility of roles, including heroines anddramatic leads – she doubles as a leading activist of the Mother Earth Foundation, a Filipinonon-governmental organization which has successfully campaigned for a national Clean Air Actand waste legislation. Earlier this year she appeared on the cover of the international news magazine as a ‘hero of Asia’, for ‘using herfame to spread a message often ignored … that there are natural resources aside from beauty and talent’.

‘I am an actress and I traffic in dreams,’ says the 29-year-old Gutierrez, who broke new ground by playing her first anti-hero in thesoap, Habang Kapiling Ka. ‘A dream can be a vision of tomorrow’s reality. I think it is the duty of every citizen of the Earth to dream ofa sustainable future for their country.’

She was, in a sense, born into environmental concern. Her father was a botanist. Her paternal grandfather, a pharmacologist, used towalk in the fields in his bare feet, so as not to disturb wildlife. And one of the first modern environmental books – Our Plundered Planetby Fairfield Osborn, published in 1948 – was dedicated by the author to her maternal grandfather, Solomon Arnaldo, an early directorof UNESCO’s office in New York.

But it was a typhoon that first sparked her activism. Six years ago she went to a sacred mountain, Mount Banahaw, south of Manila,to research a role before playing the head of a religious sect that lived there. The typhoon delayed the arrival of the television crew andthe week she spent there changed her life.

She returned to the mountain again and again – eventually spending every weekend there – to work with the local people, plantingtrees and cleaning up the rubbish left by tourists, ‘reminding people of the sacredness of the mountain by protecting and restoring its

ecological balance’. It became a focus for the Mother Earth Foundation, whereshe serves as chairperson for projects.

Earlier this year she took part in a UNEP workshop on sustainabledevelopment in Bangkok. ‘It really helped me a lot,’ she says. ‘It clarified andstrengthened my ideas and beliefs on sustainable development.’ And she drawsextensively on UNEP’s GEO3 report for educational work, visiting localcommunities to explain the concept of ecological footprints.

Global warming

For example she uses facts on the shrinking of the world’s glaciers to introduceclimate change. ‘The indicators of climate change tell us that we human beingshave no choice but to grow up. The Earth can live another one and a half billionyears, but maybe the human species will not survive global warming. We haveenough information, but do we have enough will to do what is needed?

‘I dream of the curse of poverty being lifted from the majority of Filipinos.Poverty is the biggest obstacle to sustainable development. The tragedy ofenvironmental deterioration in the Philippines is compounded by the realizationthat it is the majority of the population that lives below the poverty line thatdepends on biodiversity for food and shelter. Thus – to adapt a thought by PaulHawken, one of the writers who has most influenced me – the environmentalmovement in the Philippines must transform itself from a struggle to save theEarth to a struggle to defend human rights: the right to food, the right tolivelihood, the rights to culture, community and self-sufficiency’ ■ GL

STAR PROFILE

SUSTAINABLEDREAMSCHIN-CHIN GUTIERREZ

Our Planet

Energy is the lifeblood of theglobal economy, and an essentialprerequisite for development. In

the industrialized world, high levels ofits use have become synonymous withconsumerism and modernity, while indeveloping nations, greater use isassociated with meeting basic humanneeds. By providing sufficient light toextend the day, by supplying energy forcooking, and by powering a pump toeliminate lengthy, exhausting walks tofetch water, a small amount of com-mercial energy is the key to liberatingmillions from the burden of poverty.The gross disparity in per capita energyuse is a sad reminder of the magnitudeof inequities in access to basic ser-vices; in the least developed countries,electricity use per capita is only 1 percent of what it is in the industrializednations.

Access and impact

The challenge of energy for develop-ment is largely defined by two distinctbut related issues: access andenvironmental impact. Expanding itssupply to those who currently lackaccess to modern energy sources iscritical. Some 2 billion people do nothave access to electricity and can taponly limited sources of kerosene,charcoal or other low-quality fuels.Developing countries must generatemore energy to reduce poverty andmeet growing demand.

But increased use of commercialenergy has significant environmentalimplications. Local air pollution causesperhaps 4 million premature deathsper year, mostly of young childrenexposed to dirty cooking fuels. Theeconomic costs of air pollution amountto over $350 billion per year, or 6 per

cent of the gross national product ofdeveloping countries. There is also theadded global risk from climate changeassociated with the build-up of green-house gases from the combustion ofcoal, oil and natural gas. Despite theirrelatively low per capita consumption,developing countries have the fastesteconomic and population growth:within a few decades, their con-tributions to greenhouse gas emiss-ions are likely to exceed those ofindustrialized nations. The Global En-vironment Facility (GEF) believes thataccelerating the transition to efficientand renewable energy will bring enor-mous economic, social and environ-mental benefits. As the chief funder ofrenewable energy in developing count-ries, it is playing a leading role – inpartnership with UNEP, the UnitedNations Development Programme andthe World Bank – in expanding theintroduction of clean energy tech-nologies. In 12 years, its clean energyportfolio has grown to more than $1.6billion in grants for projects with a totalvalue of more than $10.6 billion.

Expanding renewable energy

Renewable energy is taking India, forexample, by storm. The Government’sfavourable investment tax policies,commercial financing and supportiveregulations have all contributed to this.By 2000, almost 1,200 megawatts ofwind capacity had been installed in thecountry, virtually all by the privatesector. Dozens of domestic manu-facturers have emerged and arealready exporting high-tech turbineswith variable speed operation. The GEFhas helped finance 41 megawatts of wind turbine installations and 45 megawatts of mini-hydro capacity inthe country through the RenewableEnergy Development project, while the India Renewable DevelopmentAgency, strengthened through projectassistance, has financed another 360 megawatts of wind farms and 130 megawatts of mini-hydro stations.

Similarly, the GEF has had asignificant impact in expanding solarenergy for electricity and hot water incountries as distinct as China, Peru andGhana. Sri Lanka’s Energy ServicesDelivery Project is one of the world’s

Brighteningthe futureLEONARD GOOD describesincreasingly successfulworldwide efforts to promoteclean energy and powersustainable development

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generation, heating, cooling, lightingand other productive activities. Withsome 15 per cent of the world’s energyconsumption already coming fromrenewables, the future looks reallybright. More than 1 million homes inthe developing world are now poweredby solar energy, while wind capacityhas increased from zero to over 1,700megawatts – enough to power morethan 5 million typical homes. Indiaalone now has 40,000 solar street-lights. India and China are poised toadd more than 10 million solarsystems in coming years, while some60,000 systems are anticipated inArgentina and 300,000 more in theRepublic of South Africa.

most successful solar undertakings:our contribution helped provide elec-tricity for villages not served by thegrid. By the end of 2002, almost 20,000Sri Lankan homes had solar electricitythrough an innovative micro-financingapproach that made it easier for ruralpeople to obtain bank loans for thepurchase of solar home systems.Meanwhile, a GEF project in Morocco issuccessfully expanding the use of solarhot water heaters that cost less thanconventional water heating, and saveenergy. Government agencies andprivate firms were trained to promote,evaluate and install solar hot watersystems in homes and businesses: sofar 80,000 square metres of solar hotwater collectors have been installed.

Transforming markets

Forward-looking energy companiesseeking investment opportunities indeveloping countries are increasinglyfocusing on ensuring economic andenvironmental benefits. GEF is work-ing on three continents to partner withthem and share the risks of expandingmarkets for renewable energy andenergy-efficient products, acceleratinga worldwide transition to clean energy.One new project, to transform themarket for energy-efficient refrig-erators in China, is already altering thefundamental structure of the market-place through new refrigerator stand-ards. Another project, in Poland, hashad a significant impact on the marketfor compact fluorescent lamps. Lowerprices – through a manufacturersubsidy – combined with a mass mediacampaign, resulted in sales of over 1.2million of the lamps in three years, andincreased the proportion of Polishhouseholds using them from one in tento one in three. The project clearlydemonstrated the financial and com-mercial benefits of energy-efficientlighting, saved large amounts ofpower, and reduced emissions fromcoal-fired generating plants.

Bright future

Worldwide efforts are using energy-efficient lights, solar, wind, geo-thermal, biomass and small hydro-power technologies for electricity

GEF strategies to promote cleanenergy increasingly emphasize theneed for sustainable business models,country partnerships and financialleverage. The renewable energy ind-ustry is now worth over $10 billion peryear and growing in double digits.Thirty major firms, including BP andShell International, have announcedplans to invest from $10 to $15 billionin renewable energy worldwide in thenext five years. Development agencieshave expanded their efforts to fostermarket growth by working to removemarket barriers. And some marketsfor renewable energy in developingcountries, such as in Kenya, haveemerged without any explicit develop-ment assistance, primarily throughprivate sector initiative. We willcontinue to stimulate such innovativeinvestments and to play a leading rolein promoting clean energy ■

Leonard Good is CEO and Chairman ofthe Global Environment Facility.

Some 15 per cent of the world’senergy consumption alreadycomes from renewables

The Global EnvironmentFacility unites 175 member

governments – in partnershipwith the private sector, non-governmental organizations andinternational institutions – toaddress complex global environ-mental issues while supportingnational sustainable developmentinitiatives. It has allocated $4.5billion in grants and leveraged$14.5 billion in additional finan-cing for more than 1,200 projectsin over 140 developing countries.In August 2002, donor nationspledged an additional $3 billion,the largest replenishment ever, toexpand and accelerate its work.

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‘W e now understand that both business and societystand to benefit from working together,’ said KofiAnnan, the United Nations Secretary-General, at the

2002 World Summit in Johannesburg. ‘And more and more we arerealizing that it is only by mobilizing the corporate sector that wecan make significant progress.’ It was a most welcome recognitionof the role business can play in meeting the challenges ofsustainable development.

Shell is playing its part both individually and as part of theWorld Business Council for Sustainable Development, which Ihave had the privilege of chairing over the past two years. This ispart of a clear commitment to contribute to sustainable develop-ment, which is at the heart of the way we operate. That means wetake account of environmental and social considerations as well aseconomic ones in making our business decisions.

We know that oil and gas exploration and production can havean impact on the environment and are determined to minimize itand ensure the long-term legacy of these operations is a good one.

Protecting the world’s biodiversity is a particularly importantaspect of our work, and we are working in partnership with anumber of conservation organizations. These include a project withthe Smithsonian Institution in Gabon that is researching andcataloguing the immensely rich natural environment around theoilfields in the Gamba complex. It is extremely encouraging thatthe research so far has suggested that, despite almost 40 years of oiloperations, the environment in the area is as rich as ever.

Integrating biodiversity

We have been working with other companies and conservationorganizations in the Energy Biodiversity Initiative in recognition of

the particular responsibilities of energy companies in this area. Aspart of this, the Shell Group has developed tools and guidelines on best practice in integrating biodiversity into oil and gasdevelopment. We hope these will form the basis for a commonapproach by the industry.

This builds on the approach we have taken to integratebiodiversity into our project planning and operations. The en-vironmental impact of any project is assessed right from the startand safeguards are put in place to mitigate any negative effects.There is an early dialogue with stakeholders to ensure that theirconcerns are addressed. Biodiversity is important wherever wework and we try to ensure that all our operations take place in aresponsible way which respects the local environment.

World Heritage

We also recognize that there are some areas of the world which aretoo sensitive for any oil and gas operations to take place. Earlierthis year, I announced that Shell would not explore for oil and gasin any Natural World Heritage sites. This is a very significant stepand represented a real commitment to place respect for theenvironment at the heart of the way we do business. But protectingbiodiversity is just one part of the work across the Shell Group tominimize the environmental effect of our operations.

Every year we report publicly in the Shell Report on ourperformance on a range of environmental and social indicatorsincluding emissions, spills and energy efficiency. The data areindependently verified where possible, and we work hard toensure that the report is an open and honest account of our recordand can form the basis of an ongoing dialogue with ourstakeholders. Publishing these data provides a powerful incentive

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to improve our performance. The latestreport shows we have made progress on anumber of indicators, although we havemore to do to ensure consistency acrossthe whole Shell Group.

Our performance against our target forgreenhouse gas emissions is one of the keymeasurements set out in the report. Shellshares widespread concern that the emis-sion of these gases from human activities is leading to changes inthe global climate. We believe action is required now to lay thefoundation for eventually stabilizing their concentrations.

We set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from ourown operations by 10 per cent from 1990 levels by 2002. Had wetaken no action, the development of our business over that periodwould have resulted in an increase of more than 20 per cent. Wemet that target last year and have now renewed our commitmentwith a new one – to ensure that, in 2010, emissions are still at least5 per cent below the 1990 level.

Sound business

Shell is also working to help our customers reduce their emissionsfrom energy use. This raises one of the greatest challenges facingus all: how to meet growing global demand for energy in a waywhich does not harm the environment. Successfully meeting this

challenge will require both more efficientuse of existing hydrocarbon resources and work to develop the potential ofalternatives such as renewable energy andhydrogen.

Natural gas in particular can offer abridge to increased use of renewable fuelsin the longer term. Gas produces signif-icantly lower carbon emissions than oil or

coal and Shell is developing new gas projects around the world andseeking new markets for that gas. At the same time Shell isbuilding a renewables business and supporting research anddevelopment of hydrogen. While it is clear that renewables cannotbe a quick fix, Shell is helping them to increase their role in theenergy mix and is becoming a leading player in the provision ofwind and solar energy in a number of projects around the world.

Shell takes its responsibilities to the environment very seriously.There are sound business reasons why we need to do so. Ourcustomers, those who work with us and the communities in whichwe operate expect us to meet the highest standards. By meetingthose expectations and respecting the communities andenvironments in which we work we can develop our business andensure its continued success ■

Sir Philip Watts is Chairman of the Committee of ManagingDirectors of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies.

Responding to the energychallenge will require both

more efficient use of existinghydrocarbon resources and

work to develop the potentialof alternatives

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Honda has obtained the first US Governmentcertification for a fuel cellcar, the ‘FCX’

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Global environmental problems –such as the greenhouse effect, thedepletion of natural resources and

the accumulation of wastes – have beenrecognized as common international issuesaffecting humanity since the 1990s. Sus-tainable development on a global scale isnow sought, for instance, with the est-ablishment of the targets for greenhousegas reduction in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol,and with the adoption of the Declaration onSustainable Development at the 2002Johannesburg Summit.

Honda launched the slogan ‘Blue Skyfor Children’ in the 1960s when environ-mental pollution became a highly visibleissue. During that decade we started anaggressive approach aimed at substantialenvironmental improvement, and unveiledthe Compound Vortex Controlled Com-bustion (CVCC) engine – which usedunique low-emission technology – in theUnited States and Japan. Since then, wehave developed the Variable Valve Timingand Lift Electric Control System (VTEC)and the i-VTEC series with innovativeengine technology, permitting globalproduction of vehicles that combine highperformance with state-of-the-art low-emission technologies. And we continuedto work to preserve the global environmentby releasing a hybrid vehicle, the Insight,which achieved the most efficient fuelconsumption in the world at the time of itsintroduction in 1998.

Sharing advances

This kind of effort is not limited to ourcars. We have expanded it to all ourproducts. We have converted two-strokeengines to four-strokes in motorcycleproduction for mass sale, and applied fuelinjection systems to small motorcycles.We have, moreover, continuously adopted

four-stroke engines in multipurposeengine products throughout our productline substantially ahead of the schedulerequired by the US EnvironmentalProtection Agency’s exhaust emissionregulations. These proactive initiativeshave resulted in Honda sharing thetechnological advances of its motorcycles,vehicles and multipurpose engine pro-ducts with over 15 million people all overthe world.

Achieving energy savings

We have aggressively implemented ourcorporate approach by developing andadopting environmental management sys-tems. Among these is a unique Life CycleAssessment system, which we havedeveloped as a tool for conducting aqualitative assessment of environmentalloads in all active areas, allowing theintroduction of effective countermeasuresto reduce them. This system enabled us, forexample, to achieve energy savings andcost reductions by identifying high energy

consumption, and taking appropriateaction at an early stage in product de-velopment. We are utilizing a similarlyproactive approach in all corporateactivities, including purchasing, logisticsand sales.

Environmental enterprise

Honda is fully committed to being acompany that our customers from all overthe world can look up to as we approachthe year 2010. To this end, we haveenhanced our environmental conservationactivities, working to become a leadingenvironmental enterprise. This hasresulted in the significant achievement ofobtaining the first US Governmentcertification for a fuel cell car, the ‘FCX’,enabling us to deliver a certified FCX toboth the Los Angeles City Governmentand the Japanese Government in 2002 forcommercial use. More recently, the Cityof San Francisco and a Japanese hydrogenproduction company have joined ourcustomer base.

In conclusion, we would like to furtherour commitment to the environmentthroughout our corporate activities andcontinue to provide our customers withproduct satisfaction ■

Takeo Fukui is President and CEO of theHonda Motor Co. Ltd.

B l u e - s k ythinkingTAKEO FUKUI describes how his company seeks itscustomers’ respect though an aggressive programme ofdeveloping green technology

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Facts about the world water crisis and examples of positivecommunity action are given in Troubled Waters: a Profile for

Community Action produced by the Harmony Foundation ofCanada. It is the latest in a series of profiles, which also cover

biodiversity and climatechange, as companion tothe Community ActionWorkshop Manual whichprovides a process forplanning communityprojects and educationprogrammes ■

New smoke hoods tocombat deadly indoor

pollution from cookingstoves and fires are beinginstalled in homes ofMaasai people in theKajaido area of Kenya.The smoke hoods havebeen designed by theIntermediate TechnologyDevelopment Group inclose cooperation with thecommunities. Made out oflocal materials, the hoodsdraw smoke and fumes upand away from the hearthand out through a simplechimney, which cuts in-door pollution by up to 70 per cent ■

Climate Affairs, by Professor MichaelGlantz, the senior scientist at the National

Centre for Atmospheric Research (publishedby Island Press) is a concise presentation of themany dimensions of the world’s increasing vul-nerability to climate change. Dr R.K. Pauchari,the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change, calls it: ‘an extremelyperceptive and persuasive analysis’ ■

It looks like a conventional petrol station, but it sells thewidest range of alternative fuels in any one location in

California, which is leading the world in the drive for non-polluting ways to power cars. The station in the City Heightsdistrict of San Diego sells compressed natural gas, liquefiedpropane gas, ultra-low sulphur diesel and biodiesel made fromrecycled oil used for making French fries. The brainchild ofSteve Bimson, a former marketing director at a local Forddealership, it also charges up battery-powered cars.California's official goal is for 10 per cent of its new car sales tobe of zero- or low-emission vehicles by 2005 ■

TUNZA Acting for a Better World is a richlyillustrated guide to sustainable develop-

ment issues for young people, by young people. Boldlydesigned, and dedicated to the youth of the world, the kit waslaunched at the inaugural Tunza International YouthConference in Russia in August 2003. The book is intended toincrease awareness on environmental issues and to provide

young people with access tocredible and relevant infor-mation that they can adapt toaddress problems and influencetheir communities. It is alsohoped that TUNZA will contrib-ute to the development of goodenvironmental ethics amongyouth and enable them to copewith current environmentalchallenges and those of thefuture. The book is availablefrom www.earthprint.com, $20plus postage and packing ■

US environmentalists and safety experts have come upwith a new way of tackling the increasing love affair with

the sports utility vehicle (SUV) – designing a better one. TheUnion of Concerned Scientists and the Center for Auto Safetyhave launched the Guardian, which has the same power andperformance as current models, but is much safer and usesmuch less fuel. Each SUV contributes 40 per cent more to globalwarming than an average car, and the vehicles are responsiblefor most of last year’s increase in road traffic deaths in theUnited States: they have lower safety and fuel standards to meetthan cars. The new design includes many more safety featuresand boosts fuel performance by up to 71 per cent. The designers

say that, if applied tothe whole US fleetover the next fiveyears, it would saveoil equivalent to halfthe country’s importsfrom Saudi Arabiaeach year ■

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Energy can play a pivotal role insignificantly reducing povertyand building sustainable de-

velopment – the major challenges ofthe third millennium. It is an elementalaspect of the natural, physical worldand of the economic and socialsystems of humankind. There is nophysical science that is not at the sametime an attempt to describe themanifestation of energy, as there is no history of society that is not also ahistory of harnessing and using it.

Essential yardstick

Energy, therefore, is one of the criticalareas where technology, economicsand politics intersect. Its centrality tosocial and environmental issues isbeyond question, as is its key role inany system of planning or developingsociety. As the resource from whichother resources follow, it is funda-mental to any attempt to combatpoverty, and an essential yardstick foreconomic and social development.

Africa’s current energy poverty and

inefficiency are dismal. The lack ofaccess to energy services for the vastmajority of Africans constitutes amajor obstacle to the continent’ssustainable development. Improvingaccess for poorer and marginalizedcommunities would make a significantdifference in the fight against poverty.

Access to affordable and appro-priate energy services must andshould grow significantly to improvethe standard of living of the continent’sgrowing population. Modern forms of energy would transform livingconditions and boost industrial, agri-cultural, urban and rural development.Unreliable and costly supplies ofelectricity and modern fuel impedeproduction, growth and development in many commercial enterprises.Increasingly high oil import bills – andfinancial losses at parastatal energyutilities – handicap national economies.

The principal energy sector initiativeof the 1990s – privatizing and reform-ing energy supply utilities – is helpingto improve their solvency, reduce debtburdens, and guarantee a reliable

New energyto assault povertyYOUBA SOKONA outlines strategies for widening modernenergy services to poor nations and people in Africa

provision of energy services to thoseable to pay. But much more needs to bedone, on many fronts. Policy reform,social development and institutionaldevelopment are crucially needed tounleash the great potential of theregion’s energy and other naturalresources.

New thinking

It will be essential to develop models,new types of institutional arrange-ments, policies and approaches thatreally work under the conditionscurrently prevailing in Africa. The un-critical transfer of ideas from othercontinents has not worked. New think-ing is particularly needed to achieveregulatory reforms that address thepoverty reduction agenda, and to de-velop new forms of restructuring thatare appropriate to small systemslocated within a macroeconomiccontext which is often unattractive toforeign capital, and suffers from a lackof trained people.

Besides this new thinking, criticalactions need to be taken to meetAfrica’s need for more sustainableenergy systems that will serve humanneeds and aspirations. Many of theelements of such actions are alreadywell known: ■■ The supply and use of biomass fuels,the dominant energy source of Africa,have to be made more sustainable andless costly in human terms – reducingdrudgery and improving health forchildren, women and men. ■■ Affordable access to modern energyservices (notably through electrifi-cation and distribution of liquid andgaseous fuels) must be extended to allwho lack it. ■■ The efficiency of energy production,distribution and use must be improvedto enhance economic productivity and reduce environmental hazards. Insome cases, cleaner fuels and energyprocesses are also required to meetenvironmental goals.

Modern forms of energywould transform livingconditions and boostdevelopment

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■■ Indigenous energy resources mustbe expanded to promote self-relianceand reduce net import costs. Theseinclude the large potential for renew-able energy, which should be vigor-ously promoted wherever it brings realeconomic benefits and reduces localand global environmental impacts.

Bringing change

Many technical and policy measuresare available to bring such changesabout: lower-cost energy technologiesattuned to the region’s diverse set-tings; local research, development,demonstration and testing capabilities;effective technical support services;good access to credit to lower oftenprohibitive investment barriers; and avariety of policy and institutionalmeasures designed to put thesechanges in place and promote theirself-sustaining ‘take-off’. All theseshould be developed.

Realizing significant poverty reduc-tion and sustainable development in

Africa in the near future remains a bigchallenge. The following could help inmapping the road ahead:■■ Policy focus: African energy policieshave been shaped by donor-fundedprojects, which have undoubtedlyplayed a valuable role. But soundpolicy decisions are more meaningful,and have greater impact, than a seriesof projects. Similar effort spent onpolicies and institutional reformswould yield tangible results and en-courage local initiatives to take rootand progress within a more sustain-able framework.■■ ‘New’ government roles: The reformprocess undermines traditional publicsector energy planning and develop-ment. Governments need to adopt newroles, including promoting energyresearch, development and demons-tration, subsidies and regulation.Defining and adjusting to these newroles will be a major challenge.■■ Capacity building and developmentbuilding: In many African countriesemerging changes, such as the move

to market-based energy development,have been severely constrained byweak capacities and infrastructure.These must be strengthened. Difficultquestions remain about how these new structures are to be built and/or transformed to replace currentgovernment-centred planning. Howshould these tasks be divided betweena number of pertinent governmentagencies – for example, government-private sector partnerships, or com-mercial businesses? And how quicklycan effective systems be put in place?■■ Good credit financing and technicalsupport: Easy access to credit, spareparts and good after-sale services areamong the key driving forces ofconsumer-led technical developmentin industrialized countries. One can-not overestimate the importance ofproviding the same benefits –appropriately adapted to localcircumstances – to the market forsustainable energy products in Africa.■■ Regional cooperation: Africa hasmuch in terms of rich but localized

Living in Lusaka, Fredrick Musondanoticed two things. Increasingdemand for the most common fuel,

charcoal, was supplied by native trees‘carbonized’ in simple, but inefficient,earth kilns. And the local sawmill, usinglogs from eucalyptus plantations, simplyburned the waste from its operations. So hestarted a company to manufacture charcoalfrom sawmill waste in more efficient kilns.

This was an important step in a countrywhere demand for charcoal, already900,000 tonnes a year, is rising by 4 percent annually. This growth, together withinefficient production methods, increasesdeforestation – and the associated soilerosion, water pollution and biodiversityloss – leading Zambians to an unsus-tainable energy future.

The new company, called KBPS,successfully serviced an initial market. Mr

Musonda wanted to expand but wasstopped because, as is often the case in de-veloping countries, conventional forms offinance were not available. Then he heardabout an innovative UNEP programme –the African Rural Energy EnterpriseDevelopment (AREED) initiative, suppor-ted by the United Nations Foundation andE+Co, a United States-based, non-profitinvestor. AREED works with local partnersto combine business training with smallamounts of start-up capital for entrepren-eurs who want to deliver better, profitableenergy services to rural people in Ghana,Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia.

Mr Musonda sought AREED’s helpboth in planning his business expansionand in providing the seed capital to fund it.AREED was interested because his enter-prise could help to solve an energyproblem and an environmental problem at

the same time by producing charcoal fromthe waste product of a renewable forestrypractice. KBPS could demonstrate howcharcoal can be made without causing orexacerbating deforestation – offering greatpotential for replication elsewhere.

Moreover, charcoal production isemployment intensive, and the moreefficient kilns can reduce environmentaldamage, for example by cutting carbondioxide emissions by almost 33,000 tonnesa year in this project alone.

Efficient production

Mr Musonda worked with the localAREED project officer from the Centre forEnergy, Environment and Engineering inZambia and an E+Co investment officer tostructure a commercially viable and prof-itable venture with minimum risk. Theydetermined that KBPS should construct 15additional brick kilns specially designed tobe more efficient than traditional earthones. These would enable the company toproduce about 2,000 tonnes of charcoal inthe first year of operation – or about 1 percent of total demand in the targeted area –rising to almost 3,000 tonnes of charcoal inthe subsequent four years.

New energy entrepreneursFRANCIS YAMBA describes a programme which bringssustainable development by supporting businessespioneering energy solutions in developing countries

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energy resources and potential. Butthese are typically limited by smalllocal or national demand. Cross-border energy trading (not onlyelectricity) and other forms of regionalcooperation offer large potentialbenefits.■■ Energy and environment nexus:Global environmental issues such asclimate change present both con-straints and opportunities for Africancountries. The current debates couldresult in new forms of North-Southcooperation and strategic vision overthe short, medium and long term.Mitigating and adapting to climatechange can offer the opportunity torevisit development strategies – and,particularly, sustainable energyoptions – from a new perspective withrenewed urgency, to better under-stand the connections to otherenvironmental problems, improveintegration of environment anddevelopment issues and address suchother issues as income distribution.The challenge is to ensure that the

resulting action contributes to localand regional development, rather thanobstructs it, and does not divertattention and resources away from theprimary aim of reducing poverty.■■ Gender and energy nexus: Energypolicies cannot continue to be gender-blind. Women’s energy needs are oftendifferent from those of men and theirbenefits should be commensurate withtheir efforts. Making energy servicesaccessible to rural and urban womenwill contribute immensely to theirsocio-economic development andafford a better quality of life. Ensuringthat energy services meet their socio-economic aspirations is essential ifpoverty alleviation is to attain its truemeaning. Reducing gender inequal-ities, moving towards greater equity,and building a viable sustainable de-velopment path in which women couldreclaim an active and participatory role,are all challenges that must be met ■

Youba Sokona is Head of EnergyProgram, ENDA-TM, Senegal.

The team then completed a com-prehensive business plan to guide KBPS’sexpansion and AREED lent it approx-imately $75,000 for five years at 12 percent interest. By the time it received thefinal loan instalment in February 2003,KBPS had constructed ten new kilns andothers were being built. Charcoal pro-duction had increased to approximately960 tonnes a year.

Continued support

The company, however, faced several newchallenges that required a change in strategy from the original businessplan. AREED was there to help with post-investment services – crucialelements in the design of programmesthat combine business dimensions withsustainable development. It will continueto support KBPS in implementing theventure.

This is just one of 15 enterprises whichAREED has provided with developmentservices and nearly $1 million in start-upcapital. They offer energy services rangingfrom industrial energy efficiency to solar-powered electricity and the supply of liquid petroleum gas.

Following its success, a similar pro-gramme, B-REED (www.b-reed.org) isoperating in Brazil and has alreadyinvested in companies supplying solar-powered irrigation pumps and creatingwood fuel from plantations for brickmanufacture. Another, CREED, has juststarted in China’s remote and biologicallydiverse Yunnan Province in partnershipwith The Nature Conservancy.

Together, they are demonstrating that anenterprise-led programme, supported bybusiness development services and smallamounts of start-up capital deliveredthrough local and international partners,can be the missing link to sustainabledevelopment ■

Francis Yamba is Director of the Centre forEnergy, Environment and Engineering inZambia.

Additional resources: Open for Business:

Entrepreneurs, Clean Energy and Sustainable

Development, a 32-page UNEP publication

describing the REED programmes

(www.uneptie.org/energy/publ/openforbusiness

.htm); The REED Report, September 2003, a

four-page summary of the latest REED news

(www.uneptie.org/energy/).

An enterprise-ledprogramme can be themissing link to sustainabledevelopment

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Energy use and climate change are inextricably linked.Choices made today in energy policy debates aroundthe world will directly impact global greenhouse gas

emissions far into the future. Often, the objectives of energyand climate policy are thought of as competing goals. Inreality, there can be a substantial convergence betweenthem. Many feasible and beneficial policies from supply andsecurity perspectives can also reduce future greenhouse gasemissions. Yet the task at hand is not easy: we must signifi-cantly reduce our emissions from the use of fossil fuel, andbegin in earnest to develop the technologies and alternativeenergy sources that will help achieve real and steadyreductions in worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases.

We have a problem. The Earth’s climate is undergoingimportant and potentially hazardous changes, and humanactivities are largely responsible. The scientific communityhas reached a strong consensus that greenhouse gases areaccumulating in our atmosphere, causing surface air andsubsurface ocean temperatures to rise. Continuing historicaltrends will result in additional warming over the 21stcentury: current projections are of a global increase of 1.4ºC(2.5ºF) to 5.8ºC (10.4ºF) by 2100. In addition, increases in sealevel and changes in precipitation, including more frequentfloods and droughts, are likely.

Our energy sources and capital equipment must lookvery different by the middle of this century if we are to avoidthe most severe consequences. How will we power oureconomy? How will developing and industrialized countriesalike achieve reductions in their greenhouse gas emissionswhile meeting their goals for growth? At a more everyday

level, how will we get to work? What kind of office buildingswill we work in? What kind of cars and trucks will we drive?

Some positive actions are being taken. Many countries aremoving toward ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, and severalprogrammes to trade greenhouse gas emissions are beingdeveloped. The UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) – anational system to reduce emissions and allow for them tobe traded – officially began in April 2002, while the EuropeanUnion has developed a carbon dioxide (CO2) emissionstrading system. Despite the Bush Administration’s rejectionof the Protocol in the United States, there is legislativeactivity in the US Congress and in the states aimed atreducing emissions. For example, Senators John McCain(Republican, Arizona) and Joseph Lieberman (Democrat,Connecticut) have introduced legislation that wouldestablish an economy-wide greenhouse gas emissionstrading programme. The bill is not likely to be enacted soon,but it has helped spark a long-overdue debate on just howthe United States will live up to its obligations as the world’slargest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Business interest

An increasing number of leading companies, includingmembers of the Pew Center’s Business EnvironmentalLeadership Council (BELC), see a clear business interestboth in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and inhelping to shape a climate-friendly future. The BELC’s 38members represent nearly 2.5 million employees and havecombined revenues of $855 billion. They have diversestrategies for reducing emissions. Alcoa, which operates inmore than 40 countries, for example, is developing a newtechnology for smelting aluminium that, if successful, willallow the company to reduce its emissions to half 1990 levelsover the next nine years.

Nevertheless, not nearly enough is happening. We mustcombine a long-term vision of a climate-friendly future with

Time to getS E R I O U S

EILEEN CLAUSSEN calls for immediate steps to create a strategy for a climate-friendly energy future

Our energy sources must look very differentby the middle of this century if we are toavoid the most severe consequences

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the short-term strategies that will get us there. We mustultimately dramatically reduce emissions of CO2 and othergreenhouse gases to protect ourselves, the global economyand the environment. We must fundamentally transform theway we power our global economy, shifting away from alegacy of fossil fuel use in pursuit of more efficient andrenewable sources of energy. Society will have to engage ina concerted effort, over both the near and the long term, toseek out opportunities and design actions to reducegreenhouse gas emissions.

Starting now

In particular, we must determine how to meet the growingdemand for electricity. No simple solution is on the horizon.We can expect a future with greater use of natural gas (if wecan increase supply and meet infrastructure needs); with asteadily increasing use of renewables (and the progress ofwind energy over the last decade should give us a glimmerof hope); with increased emphasis on distributed generationand combined heat and power; with nuclear at leastmaintaining its current share of the market; and finally withcoal, if we are able to master carbon capture andsequestration and make it economically viable.

We must start now to identify the steps needed for thetransition to a new, climate-friendly global economy. Thereare short-term strategies that could significantly reducegreenhouse gas emissions without radical changes intechnologies or lifestyles. Efficiency improvements, forexample, can both save money and reduce emissions. In thelonger term, we cannot achieve our vision for the future – oreven take advantage of the myriad of shorter-termimprovements that are environmentally and economicallyadvantageous – without strong greenhouse gas reductionpolicies. These could include: ■■ Mandatory reporting and disclosure of greenhouse gasemissions – from major sources, at the very least – wherecompanies now acting to reduce their emissions are assuredof credit under future mandatory regimes. ■■ A combination of financial incentives, technology stand-ards, and other policies and programmes to expand the useof renewable energy, alternative fuels and technologies –

and energy-efficient motor vehicles, appliances andbuildings.■■ The expansion of natural gas supply and infrastructure andthe promotion of advanced coal technologies with carboncapture and disposal. ■■ Programmes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions coupledwith flexible, market-based mechanisms such as emissionstrading.

With more than 100 countries now committed to the KyotoProtocol, this landmark agreement may soon enter intoforce. If so, its launch will send a strong signal to marketsthat emissions of greenhouse gases come with costs; it willbe a declaration of multilateral will to confront a quint-essentially global challenge. But it will be only a first step.With the United States not joining, the Protocol will cover just40 per cent of global emissions, and only for the next decade.

Beyond Kyoto

Whether or not the Protocol comes into force, the challengewill remain the same: engaging all the world’s majoremitters in a longer-term effort that fairly and effectivelymobilizes the resources and technology needed to protectthe global climate. An agreement that is going to work – thatcan bring in not only the United States, but developingcountries as well – will in all likelihood be something otherthan Kyoto. Achieving it will take time.

The more immediate challenge, though, is in the UnitedStates. The longer US policy makers wait to address theclimate issue seriously, the greater the risk to the climateand to the country’s standing in the world. In the long run, wecan only address climate change by drastically reducing ouremissions from the use of fossil fuels. If it is to be effective,our response to the challenge must begin now ■

Eileen Claussen is President of the Pew Center on GlobalClimate Change.

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‘L ife is fish’ goes a popular sayingin Iceland. But without oil theremight be no fish either. Our

country’s main foreign income comes fromexporting fish, and the fishing fleet runs on oil.

People around the world recognize theeconomic vulnerability linked to thedominant use of a few types of fuel de-livered from a handful of producers. Butprobably no countries are more vulnerableto energy deficiency than islands, whichcannot expect to borrow electric currentfrom their neighbours.

Our volcanic island, not connected tolarger continental energy grids, is par-ticularly vulnerable to developments in theoil business. It has no carbon sources, nofossilized deposits, and no biomass in largeenough quantities – though there areabundant geothermal and hydropowersources, as well as strong winds, marinecurrents, high waves and tides.

Iceland is now taking a new initiative,involving hydrogen made by electrolysisfrom water using renewable energy, whichcould demonstrate the performance ofelements that might be applicable inenergy systems even in very differentsituations.

During the 1970s oil crisis, BragiArnason, a professor of chemistry at theUniversity of Iceland, pointed out that itshould be possible to produce hydrogenfrom freshwater, using hydropower to gen-erate the needed electricity. This wouldthen be used to run transport on land andthe fishing fleet. His ideas were noticed,but not implemented. Yet ProfessorArnason continued to introduce his stu-dents to this idea, to calculate the bestproduction options and demonstrate ideasfor small power plants servicing differentregions of the country with hydrogen.

Rare opportunity

From the 1970s to the 1990s, thecountry’s hot springs were exploited on avast scale and piped and distributed fordomestic heating and to some industries.The first geothermal electric power plantwas erected at Krafla, a huge investmentwhich brought more knowledge thanpower in the first stages. Even smallcommunities and isolated farms wereconnected to the national grid and heatedby local hot springs. These developmentsgave a rare opportunity to experimentwith renewable energy, energy efficiency

and new technologies adapted to localsituations. Icelandic technicians learnedmuch by executing such large ‘hands on’experiments, an experience that is now a unique asset. In Iceland heating is provided almost exclusively fromsustainably managed geothermal sourcesand electricity from hydropower plants.Oil is only used for transport and thefishing fleet, amounting to about 30 percent of the total energy use. If hydrogen, alocal fuel made from local renewablesources, could be used as a substitute forit, then the whole energy economy couldbecome self-providing.

In 1999 Icelandic New Energy, a jointventure private company, was founded bythe most important energy companies,local investment funds and researchinstitutes. Its mission is to test hydrogen asan energy carrier like oil. It also drawssupport from other shareholders – NorskHydro, Shell Hydrogen, DaimlerChrysler– which want to test their technologicaldevelopments and extrapolate the results toan image of a society run on hydrogen. Inaddition, the European Commission issupporting the first projects.

Last April the first hydrogen fuelstation was inaugurated on the outskirts of

BREAKING the ICEMaria Maack describes the first steps Iceland is taking towards

a hydrogen economy

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Reykjavik, complete with see-throughpanels displaying explanations for thepublic. In October, three hydrogen fuel-cell buses started their daily route betweenthe city centre and the eastern suburbs.Their inauguration was celebrated at apublic festival where families could ride inthe buses and take a close look at the fuel station.

Harsh test

The test is expected to be harsh. Winterwinds carry salt from the sea. Temper-atures easily vary between -10 and +10°Cin the same day. Driving conditionsinclude snow cover, icy roads, wet high-ways and even some un-asphalted gravelstrips. Early morning darkness gives wayto dusk at noon, and the buses’ exhauststeam may freeze rapidly.

During this test period the IcelandicTechnical Institute will measure thecomposition of the emissions from thefuel-cell buses and compare it with thoseof similar diesel-driven buses on the sameroute. Life cycle analyses will compare allaspects of both types of fuel and bus. Andpassengers, conductors, the maintenanceteam and the general public will be askedabout their attitudes towards energy issuesand the testing of hydrogen technology.Some people associate hydrogen withexplosions or accidents, but in Iceland thegeneral attitude is positive.

In September, Icelandic New Energydonated educational material on multi-media CDs – supported by private bus-inesses and the European Commission – toall colleges in Iceland. During the summerthe first international PhD course onhydrogen infrastructure was held inReykjavik, supported by the NordicResearch Fund.

Iceland’s hydrogen initiatives have metrespect from abroad. There is a surge ofinterest in the possibilities of usinghydrogen as an energy carrier.

The hydrogen economy will need tocompete with an already well-establishedfuel industry that has had 100 years tosettle in. Hydrogen has been widely used in industry for a long time, for example in oil refineries and food processing. Butbecause of accidents involving (althoughnot caused by) large quantities of the gas inthe past, the new hydrogen fuel technologyhas to follow extremely strict securityprocedures and safety protocols.

Pricing right

As long as the costs of such externalfactors are applied only to hydrogen,establishing it in the competitive fuelmarket will be tough. But if all nationswere to accept the external costs of usingfossil fuels – such as damage from airpollution and climate change – and priceoil and coal accordingly, this would favourthe use of electricity from renewableenergy, cleaner fuels and higher efficiencywithin the current system.

It is here hydrogen is competitive. It

does not release particles that causeasthma and lung disease or emit green-house gases. It does not pollute historicaland cultural monuments with soot. It doesnot spoil groundwater or cling to clothesor car interiors.

Dr Joan Ogden and her colleagues atPrinceton University have shown throughcomparative examples that if health carecosts, the cost of climate change and thecost of securing supplies of fossil fuels areincorporated in the life cycle cost of typicalvehicles, then continuing with our petrol-powered cars is the most expensive way torun our transport systems. By contrast,with the cost reductions brought by mod-erate mass production, the vehicles usingfuel cells and hydrogen from renewablesources pose the lowest foreseen life cyclecosts.

Transporting hydrogen gas can bebulky and therefore local production andminimal distribution is probably a goodoption. But a hydrogen economy wouldsimply be the next step in Iceland’scontinuous story of securing self-relianceand high living standards ■

Maria Maack is Environmental Managerof Icelandic New Energy.

In 2003, three hydrogen fuel-cell busesbegan runningbetweenReykjavik citycentre and theeasternsuburbs

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In myl i fet ime100%renewableAmaidhi Devaraj

T hanks to our geography and ourvast coastline, there is tremen-dous potential for generating

renewable energy in India.Young people can and do make

significant contributions to harnessingit. An engineering student in Punerecently invented a device that generatedelectricity through the movement ofvehicles over a pressure-spring system.The vehicles pass over what looks like aspeed breaker and the constant up anddown motion of the spring below createsthe movement necessary to generateelectricity through magnetic induction.

A pilot ‘speed breaker’ will soon beinstalled in the busy City Market area ofBangalore, where the idea was furtherresearched and developed. There are 11million vehicles in Bangalore, and it isestimated that the energy that theycould generate in one day would beenough to keep a football stadium’slights burning for a whole week.

Other simpler forms of youth actionin India include setting up internet chatrooms and interest groups. These oftenget together to discuss ways of petition-ing local and national governments to domore to harvest renewable energy.

I have also been working with agroup of other young people to research

the science of creating a greenautomobile fuel from sugar canemolasses.

But India remains a land of villages.Rural people largely depend upon fuel-wood, crop residues and cow dung tomeet their basic energy needs for cook-ing and heating. With the increasingpopulation pressure of around a billionpeople, the consumption of fuelwood hasfar exceeded its sustainable supply,causing deforestation and desertifi-cation. The desertification of the landaround the Bandipur forests near myhome in South India results from thisoverwhelming dependence on fuelwoodby poor landless peasants and tribalpeople. In my lifetime, it has turnedpristine verdant forests into aridwastelands.

The age-old practice of burning cattledung and crop residues for cooking issimilarly destructive. It deprives agri-cultural land of much needed manure,depleting soil fertility. Inefficient burn-ing of cow dung in traditional stovescreates a lot of smoke in small village

huts without effective ventilation, caus-ing breathing difficulties and sightproblems for many rural women andchildren. The Government’s strategy has been to promote biogas units forrecycling cow dung to harness its valuefor fuel without destroying the value ofthe manure. Lavatory-linked biogasplants that both treat human waste andprovide much needed methane fuel forcooking are also popular. Both needmuch more promotion and tax breaks toensure widespread implementation. Theair in Delhi and other cities has beennoticeably cleaned up by converting thecity buses and auto-ricks from diesel togas power so people, and especiallyyoung people, are ready for more policyinitiatives like this.

India has made great strides in the direction of harnessing renewableenergy through biogas, biomass, solarenergy, wind energy, small hydropowerand other emerging technologies. TheGovernment has devised a scheme togive concessions on their monthly elec-tricity bill to people who install solarwater heaters. We need more of this. Ihope that, in my lifetime, India will be-come 100 per cent powered by renewableenergy, over which we have completecontrol, so future generations will nolonger be dependent on polluting fossilfuel supplies, over which we have none ■

Amaidhi Devaraj is studying Law at the

University of Bangalore, South India.