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HOW EMERGING ECONOMIES WILL GREEN THE WORLD
CONCEPT PAPER
The somehow provocative theme of the 2011 EnergyPact UNCTAD conference aims
at addressing energy and climate change issues under new perspectives.
For the first time a major conference dedicated to the energy-environmentdevelopment triangle will explore the sustainable and green economy agendas of
emerging markets in a specific way.
The definition of "emerging countries" is rather fluid, but they all fit into the category
of the "Global Growth Generators" (3G Countries), whose economies have the most
promising growth prospects for the next decades. Significant reductions in poverty
and the development of a middle class with consumption patterns, lifestyle
expectations and socio-political interests and demands increasingly similar to those of
its counterparts in developed economies is an important common feature of these
economies.
Besides the front runners Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, who are
institutionalizing their cooperation; there are around 30 countries which can be
considered as emerging economies.
Emerging and developing countries are mostly seen through the lenses of their
massive growth needs, large and growing environmental footprint and reluctance
towards binding levels of CO² emissions.
But being unwilling to adhere to obligatory frameworks does not mean not to be
committed to change.
Instead, emerging economies, in which half of the world's population lives now, are
positioning themselves, in different ways, as key drivers in the transition to the green
economy. They are creating increasingly cost-effective technologies for supplying
energy in developing countries. They have every reason to do so.
The green wealth
Today, 80% of young people in the world live in developing and emerging countries.
They need education and jobs. These countries understand that the greening of
economies is a new engine of growth. An enormous potential rests on the synergies
between the green economy and the knowledge-based economy, as climate change
mitigation cannot succeed without large-scale innovation in energy production and
use.
Furthermore, emerging and developing countries are much more vulnerable than
developed countries to the disastrous effects of climate change. The risk for a citizen
to be exposed to a climate-related natural disaster is 79 times higher in a developing
country than in an OECD one.
Failure to succeed in climate change mitigation could cause economic losses ranging
from 5% to 20% of the world's GDP by 2050. Emerging and developing countries are
well aware of estimates that they would bear around 75% of the costs of inaction.
On the other hand, the International Energy Agency foresees 750 billion USD
investments per annum in green technologies worldwide. A growing share of these
flows of green finance may benefit to emerging and developing countries, either as
indigenous investments, or by attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), provided
that the right policies to develop their technological capabilities are put in place at the
national and international levels.
National agendas, multilateral dynamics
Therefore, emerging and developing countries have a strategic interest in seriously
tackling climate change and in contributing to shaping the optimal energy mix for the
21st century.
All emerging economies have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and all are proactively
seeking for the best post-Kyoto solutions. Although their legitimate development
needs imply a temporary surge of their emissions of greenhouse gases; they are
mobilizing their resources for the parallel transformation of their growth patterns.
They will not reduce their development. Instead, they will green their growth.
Emerging economies and resource-rich countries need to define their optimal energy
mix in line with their natural assets, comparative advantages and specific strategies
towards a greener economy - while contributing to the overall effort of the
multilateral system in various Organizations and under different formats of
international negotiations. Their national agendas complement the global policy
framework in the making, towards a more cohesive and cooperative governance for
sustainable development.
In this context, the role of emerging countries as key drivers needs to be better
perceived, understood and encouraged.
In the fight against climate change, every kind of effort is needed. Greenhouse
emissions, whatever their cause, have all the same impact. So we don't need
controversy, but an addition of solutions. No one has the monopoly of policyformulation.
Advanced cooperations
Each initiative, each policy, each innovation acts as a building-block. India, China,
Brazil for example are designing greening strategies adapted to their own context —
successfully.
Here the role of emerging powers is crucial: first because they are in the process of
massive infrastructure building, urban planning and social change; thus the way they
are designing their policies will have a tremendous effect. Secondly, because they can
enter into partnerships with leading developed countries in a big scale.
As the world's top emitters consist in a group of 15 countries, any agreement among
them or with any of them can bring decisive progress to solving the global threat we
all face, and at the same time foster innovation, generate investments, create new jobs.
Rather than excessively pointing at individual responsibilities, the international
community may grasp bigger and faster gains in promoting approaches based on
convergence, partnership and advanced cooperations on a voluntary basis.
The EnergyPact UNCTAD 2011 Conference will put into new perspectives how
emerging countries will decisively contribute in this spirit to the multilateral transition
towards a greener economy.
Nuclear Energy in the Transition to the Green Economy
The recent nuclear crisis in Japan, caused by a series of natural disasters of
unprecedented magnitude, should not delay the necessary assessment of the role of
nuclear power in the energy mix of the 21st century. Key issues such as technology
innovation, generation IV or thorium-based reactors; small- scale reactors;
environmental effects, human health and safety, waste management, training of
skilled manpower; must be addressed without taboos.
In the next decades, new clean and renewable technologies will not be sufficiently
available, and not all at affordable prices, to respond to the growing needs of the
world economy and to create an efficient low-carbon supply system. The fact is that
by 2030 fossil energy will still account for 75% of the world's production of energy;
while nuclear power is set to represent up to 5% of energy output by 2050. Nuclear
energy is likely to remain an important component of the energy mix of many
countries during the transition to a green economy. Over 45 countries in the five
continents are now embarking upon nuclear power programs. Some 65 countries,
mostly emerging and developing ones, have expressed, in total, interest for nuclear
power. Even if we are witnessing the suspension of nuclear activities and initiatives,
we need to re-think the civil nuclear agenda of the years and decades ahead in light of
the current indispensability of this energy source.
Launch of UNCTAD Technology and Innovation Report
2011
The Technology and Innovation Report (TIR) 2011 focuses on policy issues and
options to address energy poverty and climate change mitigation through the greater
use of renewable energy technologies (RETs). The Report identifies key issues in
technology and innovation for the greater use of renewable energy technologies and
argues that there are numerous benefits of RETs for developing countries. The
potential impacts of RETs in terms of reducing energy poverty, generating
employment and creating new production and innovative activity add to their
environmental advantages. The session will aim to present and launch the Report
itself.
Converting to the green economy: the new global deal for
growth and sustainability
Converting to the green economy is not only one of today's most pressing global
challenges; it is also one of the most promising new frontiers for innovation, growth
and the rise of a sustainable civilization. The world today needs a collective,
coordinated, cohesive and convergent effort embracing all countries. The United
Nations system provides the most likely framework in which such an approach for the
development of a global green economy can succeed.
The top decision-makers who will speak at the official opening plenary session will
deliver different views towards a shared vision: how climate change can be
transformed from one of mankind's biggest perils into one of humanity's most
promising and transforming challenges.
Urbanization: part of the problem, part of the solution
The fast pace of urbanization in emerging and developing countries is becoming one
of the most massive and pressing problems for climate change mitigation,
development, and the transition to a greener economy.
Cities are big energy consumers, big emitters, big polluters – but also the laboratories
of our future way of life and places where eco-solutions are concentrated, tested and
spread. Soon most of the world's population will be living in urban areas. Cities
already use 75 % of the world's energy output and emit 75 % of greenhouse gases.
Urbanization levels are of 80% in developed countries and of 50 % in many
developing ones.
Thus demographic growth and urbanization are critical energy and environmental
challenges. At the same time, because of their scientific and human resources and
financing capabilities; cities are incubators of efficient responses, many of them
applicable also in other types of habitats. Therefore, inventing eco-friendly and
sustainable cities will have a tremendous impact on climate change mitigation, energy
efficiency, industrial production, transportation, consumer behavior and social
interactions. In other words: a new civilization. This session will present major
achievements and pilot-projects which are inventing the sustainable city of tomorrow.
It will focus on the evolutions of urban living in emerging countries and revolutionary
urban planning trends tested in megacities as well as in futuristic zero-carbon
communities.
International Investment in Infrastructure & Climate: The
present, the way forwards
Beyond the rhetoric and good intentions of the global debate over climate change lies
the real world and difficult work of bringing to fruition the projects needed to address
its effects on human habitats and the way we live. Most climate and environmental
projects start in the public sector – principally city and regional governments, who
must provide their citizens with new infrastructure and social services adapted to and
addressing climate change: more public transportation, better waste management,
more clean water, more electricity… All of this new infrastructure must be more
sustainable and energy efficient than yesterday's systems.
Few governments have the budget to build what needs to be built, so private
investment must fill the gap if these projects are ever to be built. However, in the
current volatile markets and flight to less-risky investments by institutions
everywhere, preparing projects to attract investment has become more complex. How
can these parties be brought together so that projects find the funding they need, and
investors can achieve the reduced risk exposure they seek - all so that more and better
infrastructure gets built? This session will discuss the current international situation in
this regard and outline a way forward to close this gap.
Finding the optimal energy mix for the 21 century
st
A climate-smart world needs an optimal energy mix, which itself requires a
sustainable and responsible capitalism. In the post-Kyoto paradigm all countries must
get out from entrenched traditional positions and rhetoric about the sharing of the
burden of both the historical environmental debt of most developed countries and the
new responsibilities of emerging powers. Instead, all must focus in a cooperative
spirit on how to optimize energy efficiency; ensure the security of supplies and the
safety of facilities; increase affordability of power and foster a low-carbon growth.
Whatever way we look at this issue, the ultimate objectives remain the same: to
reduce the transformation waste and the environmental impacts of energy production
and distribution; to disseminate globally green technologies; to change how humans
behave in their ecosphere.