UNCED and Energy

by Gunnar Boye Olesen, OVE

When United Nations Conference on Environment and Development starts the third of June, preparations have been underway in more than a year. At four preparation conferences, Prepcoms and special negotiations on climate change and big-diversity problems, all UNCED issues have been discussed several times. The questions of how to reach a sustainable energy development have had a rather low position in the official negotiations, being regarded as a smaller part of the climate negotiations.

From NGO-side there has been a number of proposals for sustainable energy strategies and formation of a sustainable energy agency. One of these was the presentation of the NGO energy strategy "Sustainable energy collaboration, - towards a world strategy" at the third Prepcom, August 1991. And the UN advisory committee "UN Solar Group'' has given a detailed report on all the measures, that it find necessary to realize a sustainable energy development. status of negotiations

By the end of the fourth and final Prepcom in New York, only a few words about sustainable energy development have slipped into the hundreds of pages of proposed documents for UNCED. Thus, in the section on climate change in the proposed Agenda 21 there are a few statements:

· "Changes to existing and new institutional mechanisms of technical and financial assistance may be needed at national, regional and global levels. There is particularly urgent need for work in the areas of energy efficiency and environmentally sound energy systems, especially renewable resources.";

· "....a global level institutional response will also be required.";

· "collaborating centres could be set up by relevant UN bodies,...";

· '.Review of public financial institutions" (should be done by countries).

(quotations from UNCED-document A/CONF.151/PC/WG.1/L.47 page 16)

These statements are, like much of the rest of Agenda 21, dependent on the financial side. And as there was no financial agreements reached at the final Prepcom, the whole Agenda 21 is waiting for an eventual agreement on finances at UNCED.

Besides Agenda 21, energy questions are dealt with in the proposed treaty on climate change, but the proposals here are even more vague. If UNCED reaches firm commitments of a climate treaty, this will definitely push action for a sustainable energy development. Sorrily this is not very likely in the view of the last session on climate change negotiations in New York.

With this situation before UNCED, there is still a very long way to go, before UN and the international community can be said to take care of a sustainable energy development. And there is very far from the latest scientific conclusions of larger climate changes from IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) till the political consequences that the countries will make because of this.