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[Roberto Escardó <robertoescardo@arnet.com.ar>]

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UNEP PRESS RELEASE Putting Energy into Sustainable Development - UNEP
launches new Global Clean Energy Network at Johannesburg World Summit Years
UNEP: Environment for Development: People, Planet, Prosperity JOHANNESBURG,
1 September 2002 -- The goal of bringing new and less polluting energy
sources to billions of deprived people around the world came a step closer
today as the United Nations environment Programme (UNEP) launched a
pioneering global network of "sustainable energy" entres. Speaking at the
launch here at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Klaus Toepfer,
UNEP's Executive Director, said: "The provision of environmentally sound
energy services are integral to poverty alleviation and sustainable
development." Over 2 billion people in developing countries do not have
access to reliable forms of energy", Mr. Toepfer said. "Nine out often
Africans have no access to electricity", he continued. "Providing clean
energy on a sustainable basis is not only vital for fighting environmental
issues like global warming but for reducing poverty and misery in Africa and
parts of Asia and Latin America." Access to affordable, modern energy
services is increasingly seen as prerequisite for sustainable development
and poverty alleviation. Access to energy is a condition for achieving the
UN's Millennium Development Goals including the goal to halve the proportion
of people in poverty by2015 that is at the heart of the Johannesburg debate.
For one-third of the world's population, dependence on traditional fuels
results in many hours spent each day gathering wood, animal and crop waste.
Moreover, limited access to adequate and appropriate energy, including
electricity means that value-adding income-generating activities are
constrained. The consequences for the environment of present energy
production and consumption patterns are also significant. For example, in
developing countries, the widespread use of traditional fuels for indoor
cooking and heating results in serious respiratory diseases and loss of life
related to indoor air pollution, as well as a contribution to deforestation,
particularly in arid and semi-arid areas. Air pollution in developing
countries is one of the four most critical global environmental problems.
Such pollution causes an estimated 2 million excess deaths per year, or 5
percent of the global burden of disease. At the global level, emissions of
greenhouse gases, which mostly originate from the use of fossil fuels
(presently 80percent of the world's primary energy comes from fossil fuels),
will have to be reduced in order to combat global warming. Solving the
climate change challenge means reducing global dependence on fossil fuels.
The new Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development (GNESD), made
up initially of 10 centres in 10 developed and developing countries, will
help promote the research, transfer and take-up of greensand cleaner energy
technologies to the developing world. It will achieve this by strengthening
collaboration between existing" centres of excellence" that work on energy,
development and environment issues. And, through these centres, influence
sustainable energy policies, strategies and programmes." The underlying
rationale of the Network is that it increases the capacity of developing
country research institutions to look at energy for sustainable development
issues", says Mark Radka, head of UNEP's Energy Unit. "Furthermore, it
creates a shared research and information base on policy and technical
guidance, advice and information." Critically, the Network will help all
partners to develop and apply policies suitable to the needs and constraints
of developing countries, thus supporting the use of energy as an instrument
for poverty alleviation and sustainable development", he said. Promising
advances in energy-related technology hold a great potential for sustainable
development, particularly regarding renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Numbers of technology options (energy from wind, "new" biomass, solar,
geothermal sources) have been advanced to a state of technical reliability,
and technological developments continue to reduce costs. The challenge
remains to introduce or scale up the application of sustainable energy
services. Similarly, policy and regulatory challenges remain if these are to
become commercially viable options and able to compete with conventional and
environmentally harmful energy options that typically benefit from
favourable pricing conditions and perverse policy incentives." Technological
solutions to energy problems are available today. We now need the political
will and action to implement them", Mr. Toepfer said." The choices humankind
makes on energy in the next decade will largely determine the history of the
21st century, and in particular whether we arable to put ourselves securely
on the path to sustainable development," he said. Note to Journalists The
Network was launched today at a press conference with Mr. Toepfer, TimWirth,
President of the UN Foundation, and Ministersfrom Denmark, France Germany,
and the UK in the Sandton MediaCentre.For more information, please contact:
Nick Nuttall, UNEP'sHead of Media (inJohannesburg) on mobile: +27 11 (0) 72
533 8239,email: nick.nuttall@unep.org, or Robert Bisset, UNEP Press Officer
(inParis) onTel +33-1-4437-7613, mobile: +33-6-2272-5842,
email:robert.bisset@unep.frNote to EditorsThe Global Network onEnergy for
Sustainable Development (GNESD) is apartnership, and hasbeen submitted to
the World Summit on Sustainable Development forrecognition as a "Type Two"
outcome.UNEP will host a smallsecretariat for the Network. A Steering
Committee representing the energy centres as well as the other Network
partners will provide strategic direction. The creation of GNESD is in line
with the G8Renewable Energy Task Force Report (2001) which recommended that
its member countries "expand support for assistance programmes and networks
for capacity building" to help promote the policy shift towards sustainable
energy solutions. Core partners in the Network are outstanding energy
centres in industrialised and developing countries with proven experience
and success in advancing knowledge and policies on various energy issues.
The list of energy centres includes, for example, the Tate Energy Research
Institute (TERI) in India, the African Energy Policy Research Network
(Kenya), the Bariloche Foundation (Argentina), ENDA Tiers Monde (Senegal),
and the Energy Research and Development Centre (EDRC) in South Africa. The
energy centres are joined in the Network by international organisations,
Governments, financial institutions, private sector representatives,
foundations and other parties who share the goal of promoting energy for
sustainable development. The idea of the Network was developed by UNEP in
cooperation with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO), the UN Department for Economic and Social
Affairs (UN/DESA) and The World Bank, drawing on proposals and inputs from t
he energy centres themselves. Initial funding partners are the Governments
of Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Denmark, along with the UN
Foundation. For more information: Mark Radka, Energy Programme Coordinator,
UNEP Paris Tel: +33144371427 Fax:+33144371474E-mail:
mark.radka@unep.fr,www.uneptie.org/energyorMr. Eric Falt, UNEP
Spokesperson\Director, Division of Communications and Public Information, in
Nairobi on tel: (254-2) 623292, email:Eric.Falt@unep.org,UNEP



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