Major Group: NGOs
MUTISTAKHOLDER DIALOGUE
INPUT FROM THE MAJOR GROUP ? NGO 11th May 2006
It is not possible to achieve sustainable development without transforming the way
energy services are provided and improving access to energy. Energy is a basic need and
a key driver in development; life without energy is a poverty trap. This CSD cycle, with
its emphasis on energy and interrelated issue s of industrial development and air pollution
including climate change could provide the opportunity to make progress on the
implementation of Agenda 21, the JPOI and the Mauritius strategy. Few issues cut across
all aspects of socio economic development, few have the ecological, climate changing
and health impacts of the current fossil fuel, nuclear and large hydro energy regimes.
The best efficiency and savings strategy is through altering the production and
consumption patterns of energy. Oil consumption and prices are both rising and, taking
account of the intensive energy requirements of industrial agriculture, this is likely to
have additional impacts on the poor in terms of not only rising energy and transport costs
but costs for basic food supplies. Incineration of urban and industrial wastes should be
opposed since such processes produce a range of polluting emissions hazardous to human
health and the environment.
Fossil fuel, nuclear and large scale hydro energy are largely capital intensive and
centrally driven approaches that do not support sustainable economic development ;
neither do they contribute to energy service access despite perverse subsidies. The JPOI
called for removal of subsidies that inhibit sustainable development and even the World
Bank extractive industries review recommends that the IFIs support to fossil fuels should
be phased out. Despite these repeated calls these recommendations have been ignored.
The very governments that sit here in the CSD and talk about sustainable development
are continuing to fund, as members of the World Bank, mostly unsustainable energy
projects such as oil pipelines, hydro-dams and coalmines.
We call on government and all stakeholders to urgently implement measures to move
away from the current fossil, large hydro and nuclear energy systems. This should be
done through, in particular, but not exclusively, the removal of subsidies for fossil fuels,
nuclear and large hydro to enable the shift to renewable energy. There needs to be a full
recognition within the CSD process that nuclear can provide no solutions to the issues
raised herein and it is indefensible as a source of energy for a sustainable future, nor is it
a solution to climate change. Moreover, we object to any part of the UN brokering and
facilitating any one industry as the International Atomic Energy Agency is doing with
nuclear.
In the JPOI, a commitment to corporate responsibility and accountability was made three
times. Yet, in contrast to the widespread celebration of "corporate social responsibility"
and voluntary approaches, the commitment to corporate accountability received only
token attention during this review cycle. We call on governments to apply corporate
accountability as this is necessary for the private sector to restore public trust.
In this session of CSD member states have drawn attention to the fact that access to
renewable energy is a prerequisite for halving poverty by 2015. Yet the Millennium
Development Goals do not have a specific target for sustainable energy service provision.
Even the JPOI skirted around objectives and target setting for sustainable energy
production and consumption, to which the lack of progress in this area can be partially
attributed.
There must be an immediate redirection of funds through the IFI?s to renewable energy.
A similar redirection of funds is needed to implement the Millennium Development
Goals. The UN has estimated that US$150 billion is needed to implement the MDGs, a
fraction of current military spending; this could provide access to clean, safe, affordable
renewable energy for all and alleviate poverty.
Agenda 21 calls for the development of national sustainable development strategies yet
these have largely failed to materialise despite time frames being set through the JPOI,
with implementation of the strategies envisaged already by 2005. Moreover, most nations
are failing to seize the opportunity offered by the UN Decade for Education for
Sustainable Development, leaving their citizens unaware of the concept and challenges of
sustainable development.
National sustainable development strategies should be reviewed by the UN to measure
progress and assess the provision of sustainable energy, with particular reference to the
poor and vulnerable. Renewable energy and energy efficiency should feature prominently
in the strategies developed for achieving sustainable development by nations, which
should include nationally determined targets and time frames emphasizing the importance
of renewable decentralized energy to create self reliance, uplift rural communities, create
jobs and livelihoods uplift poor communities, ease the burden of poor women, ensure
ecological sustainability and promote sustainable development
The bridge between CSD 12 and 13 was weak and issues were not carried forward from
the review year to the policy year of CSD. It is imperative that we address a bridging
programme within this CSD cycle to ensure that work done this year is not forgotten by
next year. Civil society or the NGO community are willing to contribute and collaborate
in these efforts.
NGOs call on the Secretariat to produce two assessments on the real costs of all forms of
energy. One assessment should report on cumulative and annual levels of direct and
indirect economic subsidies. A second assessment should report on the environmental,
social and health costs, including embodied greenhouse gases. Only with this data can
governments reasonably make policy on energy for sustainable development. Drafts of
these assessments should be distributed well in advance of the preparatory meeting for
CSD 15.
Annie Sugrue
Earthlife Africa, South Africa, on behalf of NGOs
INPUT FROM THE MAJOR GROUP ? NGO 11th May 2006
It is not possible to achieve sustainable development without transforming the way
energy services are provided and improving access to energy. Energy is a basic need and
a key driver in development; life without energy is a poverty trap. This CSD cycle, with
its emphasis on energy and interrelated issue s of industrial development and air pollution
including climate change could provide the opportunity to make progress on the
implementation of Agenda 21, the JPOI and the Mauritius strategy. Few issues cut across
all aspects of socio economic development, few have the ecological, climate changing
and health impacts of the current fossil fuel, nuclear and large hydro energy regimes.
The best efficiency and savings strategy is through altering the production and
consumption patterns of energy. Oil consumption and prices are both rising and, taking
account of the intensive energy requirements of industrial agriculture, this is likely to
have additional impacts on the poor in terms of not only rising energy and transport costs
but costs for basic food supplies. Incineration of urban and industrial wastes should be
opposed since such processes produce a range of polluting emissions hazardous to human
health and the environment.
Fossil fuel, nuclear and large scale hydro energy are largely capital intensive and
centrally driven approaches that do not support sustainable economic development ;
neither do they contribute to energy service access despite perverse subsidies. The JPOI
called for removal of subsidies that inhibit sustainable development and even the World
Bank extractive industries review recommends that the IFIs support to fossil fuels should
be phased out. Despite these repeated calls these recommendations have been ignored.
The very governments that sit here in the CSD and talk about sustainable development
are continuing to fund, as members of the World Bank, mostly unsustainable energy
projects such as oil pipelines, hydro-dams and coalmines.
We call on government and all stakeholders to urgently implement measures to move
away from the current fossil, large hydro and nuclear energy systems. This should be
done through, in particular, but not exclusively, the removal of subsidies for fossil fuels,
nuclear and large hydro to enable the shift to renewable energy. There needs to be a full
recognition within the CSD process that nuclear can provide no solutions to the issues
raised herein and it is indefensible as a source of energy for a sustainable future, nor is it
a solution to climate change. Moreover, we object to any part of the UN brokering and
facilitating any one industry as the International Atomic Energy Agency is doing with
nuclear.
In the JPOI, a commitment to corporate responsibility and accountability was made three
times. Yet, in contrast to the widespread celebration of "corporate social responsibility"
and voluntary approaches, the commitment to corporate accountability received only
token attention during this review cycle. We call on governments to apply corporate
accountability as this is necessary for the private sector to restore public trust.
In this session of CSD member states have drawn attention to the fact that access to
renewable energy is a prerequisite for halving poverty by 2015. Yet the Millennium
Development Goals do not have a specific target for sustainable energy service provision.
Even the JPOI skirted around objectives and target setting for sustainable energy
production and consumption, to which the lack of progress in this area can be partially
attributed.
There must be an immediate redirection of funds through the IFI?s to renewable energy.
A similar redirection of funds is needed to implement the Millennium Development
Goals. The UN has estimated that US$150 billion is needed to implement the MDGs, a
fraction of current military spending; this could provide access to clean, safe, affordable
renewable energy for all and alleviate poverty.
Agenda 21 calls for the development of national sustainable development strategies yet
these have largely failed to materialise despite time frames being set through the JPOI,
with implementation of the strategies envisaged already by 2005. Moreover, most nations
are failing to seize the opportunity offered by the UN Decade for Education for
Sustainable Development, leaving their citizens unaware of the concept and challenges of
sustainable development.
National sustainable development strategies should be reviewed by the UN to measure
progress and assess the provision of sustainable energy, with particular reference to the
poor and vulnerable. Renewable energy and energy efficiency should feature prominently
in the strategies developed for achieving sustainable development by nations, which
should include nationally determined targets and time frames emphasizing the importance
of renewable decentralized energy to create self reliance, uplift rural communities, create
jobs and livelihoods uplift poor communities, ease the burden of poor women, ensure
ecological sustainability and promote sustainable development
The bridge between CSD 12 and 13 was weak and issues were not carried forward from
the review year to the policy year of CSD. It is imperative that we address a bridging
programme within this CSD cycle to ensure that work done this year is not forgotten by
next year. Civil society or the NGO community are willing to contribute and collaborate
in these efforts.
NGOs call on the Secretariat to produce two assessments on the real costs of all forms of
energy. One assessment should report on cumulative and annual levels of direct and
indirect economic subsidies. A second assessment should report on the environmental,
social and health costs, including embodied greenhouse gases. Only with this data can
governments reasonably make policy on energy for sustainable development. Drafts of
these assessments should be distributed well in advance of the preparatory meeting for
CSD 15.
Annie Sugrue
Earthlife Africa, South Africa, on behalf of NGOs