Remarks by Griffin Thompson, Senior Energy Advisor, U.S. Department of State, Energy for Sustainable Development Statement at the 15th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development

As we mentioned yesterday, the CSD has already delivered some important successes during this two-year cycle. For example, CSD-registered partnerships have delivered concrete, measurable results on the ground, including providing increased access to modern energy services for tens of millions of people. CSD participants have also submitted more than 200 case studies into the CSD Matrix; an innovative knowledge-sharing tool with lessons learned and best practices from all corners of the globe. And, the CSD Learning Center has provided practical capacity building to hundreds of CSD participants.

Despite these successes, our work is not yet done. We have been tasked by the Chairman to do two things in the coming days: 1) spend four days producing a decision document and 2) use CSD as a platform for launching specific initiatives, activities, and projects.

Regarding the decision document, the international community has developed an impressive policy blueprint on energy over the past fifteen years. In the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and at CSD-9, we agreed on a range of critical concepts and endorsed a number of important objectives. For example:

• We all agreed that increasing access to modern energy services is central to achieving the goals of sustainable development
• We all agreed that increasing access to modern energy services requires diversifying our energy sources, giving a greater share of the energy mix to renewable energy, improving energy efficiency and a greater reliance on advanced energy technologies, including fossil fuel and nuclear technologies.
• We also acknowledged the importance of integrating energy considerations into socio-economic programs.
• We also agreed on the importance of making markets work effectively.
  And, we also acknowledged the importance of accelerating the development, dissemination and deployment of affordable and cleaner energy efficiency and energy conservation technologies.
• We agreed on the vital role gender plays in energy decisions and the importance of mobilizing financial resources. On this latter point, I should mention that there will be an excellent Learning Center course on Innovative Energy Financing from 3:00-6:00 this afternoon in Conference Room B.

Frankly, looking back on the 54 pages of past-negotiated text, we collectively did a pretty good job on articulating the multiple dimensions of energy and sustainable development and identifying what needs to happen. There is precious little that we can add to this past litany of exhortations and policy prescriptions that would add tremendous value. Nevertheless, there remain gaps and there is a need to address some additional issues.

For example, we have heard discussion of a need for follow-up to the work we’ve accomplished during the CSD 14-15 Cycle. We agree. For the same reasons that we felt it important to revisit water after CSD-13, we feel it important to review the vital topic of energy and sustainable development in future CSD review years in 2010 and 2014.

But this begs the question: what will we be reviewing? Are we expected to spend our time reviewing words on a page or actions on the ground? It seems to us that future CSD cycles should provide a space for all of us to report on the results of the new and strengthened actions that can actually turn the rhetoric of negotiated text into the reality of increased access of modern, clean and affordable energy services that create jobs, save lives, educate women and children, and catalyze sustained economic growth.

This brings me to the other task before us during CSD-15: highlighting specific initiatives, actions, and projects. Here are a few examples of new and strengthened actions that we believe will advance the implementation of the Rio and Johannesburg agreements.

• Scaling Up and Replicating Slum Electrification Programs: Pilots launched with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development in Sao Paolo Brazil in September 2006 and Mumbai, India in April 2007 will provide legal and regular electricity service to over 50,000 slum households. These programs will be replicated across Brazil and India.
  
• Increasing Rural Electrification through On- and Off-Grid Approaches: Through a Millennium Challenge Compact signed in November 2006 by the United States and El Salvador, electricity coverage in the Northern Zone will increase from 70 percent to no less than 97 percent, benefiting 235,000 individuals. Service will be provided through extension of distribution networks as well as off-grid solar photovoltaic systems. Program implementation is scheduled to begin in October 2007.
  
  
• Strengthening Energy Efficiency Efforts: The ENERGY STAR program will continue to deliver significant energy savings and greenhouse gas emission reductions. New ENERGY STAR specifications for computers will be effective in July 2007, potentially saving U.S. homes and businesses $1.2 billion in energy costs over the next five years.
  
  
• Boosting Private Sector Green Power Purchasing: In December 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership launched the Fortune 500 Green Power Challenge; a 13-month effort to double the collective voluntary green power purchases of participating Fortune 500 companies to more than 5 billion kWh annually.

USUN PRESS RELEASE # 095(07)