The Permanent Mission of Iceland
to the United Nations
Statement by
H.E. Sigridur Anna Thordardottir,
Minister for the Environment of Iceland
at the
High-Level Segment of the 14th Session
of the Commission on Sustainable Development
Making a Difference: Interactive Discussions with UN organizations
New York, 11 May 2006
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The Permanent Mission of Iceland to the United Nations
800 Third Ave. 36th fl. - Tel 212-593-2700. - Fax 212-593-6269
Mr. Chairman,
My Government sponsored a Side Event on geothermal energy at this CSD
session, partly in order to increase awareness of this clean and climate-friendly
energy source.
It is our experience that people are not well aware of the geothermal potential,
and tend to dismiss it as a marginal energy source from a global viewpoint.
Surely it is not a practical option everywhere, but the same is true for wind, solar
and tidal.
Yet it is estimated that geothermal could be a reliable and climate friendly energy
source for hundreds of million people in East Africa, Central America, China,
Indonesia and many other parts of the world.
It could be a sizeable part of the solution to the climate problem and the
development needs.
I would like to stress the leadership role of international financial institution in
this regard. We will see billions of dollars invested in energy infrastructure in the
coming years, th at will have environmental effects for decades.
Some of this investment will most likely be in fossil fuel-powered energy plants
in places rich in geothermal energy that do not use their possibilities in that field
due to lack of technical know-how or financial resources.
The report of the Secretary-General identifies investment costs, difficulty of
assessing geothermal resources and inadequate local technical skills as major
barriers facing geothermal energy.
I challenge the international financial in stitutions to help remove these barriers
and in particular to consider the longterm economic advantage of this energy
source.
I believe that the obstacles hampering the wider use of geothermal energy are
the same that are facing many other types of renewable energy.
International financial institutions must be aware of these barriers and work
towards reducing them. The World Bank and others have taken some important
steps in this direction. But we need to do much better if we are to build a
sustainable energy future.
Thank you
