Public-Private Partnership for Technology Innovation

Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, December 1-12, 2003

Mr. Chairman:

To meet the challenge of climate change, the United States has placed great emphasis on partnerships to translate policies into concrete actions that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

To achieve our shared goal, it is vital that these partnerships include the private sector. In as much as most of the investment in new technologies will be coming form the private sector, it is important to engage them from the beginning.

For example, we are working with 13 energy-intensive industry sectors in the Climate VISION program, a voluntary public-private partnership designed to support President Bush’s goal of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent over 10 years. Climate Leaders is another program that works with the private sector companies on ways to reduce emissions.

We also believe that partnering with other countries will accelerate the development and application of new technologies. We have initiated or stepped up our participation in several key international initiatives.

International cooperation is a key feature of our effort to develop carbon capture and storage technology. The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum is a multinational collaborative effort to develop cost-effective methods to sequester carbon from coal, which for many countries remains an abundant, economical energy option. The related FutureGen program will help lead to the development of zero emissions fossil fuel power plants.

To realize the promise of hydrogen, the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy has brought together 16 developed and developing countries to coordinate international research, development, and commercialization of hydrogen technologies. And in nuclear energy, the 11-member Generation IV International Forum is working on new, even safer reactor designs that could play a role in hydrogen production.

Through such international collaborations, we seek to ensure that our efforts are coordinated, standards are harmonized, and the rich diversity of national capabilities is tapped. Additionally, all of these initiatives include a significant private sector component.

We are also at work on government and private sector partnerships for technology transfer. A good example is the Clean Energy Initiative, launched in Johannesburg, which seeks to improve access to clean, reliable, and efficient energy services for the developing world.

Together, these initiatives represent a new model of targeted collaboration with specific and ambitious—but achievable—goals.

Thank you.