Archived press release

Call for G8 action on energy efficiency

1 November 2005

The UK Government must ensure that G8 countries reach international agreement on reducing the growing demand for energy said Friends of the Earth, as G8 energy ministers meet in London today (Tuesday 1^st November).

The environmental campaign group wants the UK Government to push the G8 to provide financial, technical and policy assistance to developing countries to help them reduce growth in energy demand through energy efficiency policies. This would enable them to reduce their emissions growth without harming development goals.

The UK Government, as President of both the EU and the G8, is also co-hosting an International Conference on energy efficiency on 2-3 November 2005 in London. Margaret Beckett and Malcolm Wicks will be attending, as well as European Commissioner on Energy Andris Piebalgs [1].

Friends of the Earth's Director Tony Juniper said:

"Blair and Bush say new technologies will help to meet the climate change challenge. But there are existing technologies that we could be using now which would cut fossil fuel demand, while also producing economic benefits and tackling climate change. More needs to be done to promote these quick wins.

"But it is crucial that ministers meeting in London also use this dialogue as a stepping stone to the UN negotiations in Montreal and work towards real targets with proper funding. Warm words and woolly commitments are not enough. Climate change is threatening the lives of millions. We must see real progress on the development of sustainable energy."

Friends of the Earth wants G8 countries to agree to start phasing out energy inefficient technologies, such as incandescent light bulbs and to reduce the power needed for electrical products on standby settings [2]. They should also provide help to poorer countries to do the same.

Ministers meet in Montreal this December for the first meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. An agreement this week on promoting efficiency technologies to developing countries would be an important stepping stone to take forward these negotiations.

Friends of the Earth said a commitment from the G8 would enable developing countries to develop a low carbon economy without harming their development goals. Reducing demand growth in countries like China will also help to reduce demand pressure on fossil fuels, which is partly responsible for high oil prices [3].

The environmental campaign group added that it was crucial for the UK Government to also take action at home to cut carbon dioxide emissions and to support European Union efforts in this direction. Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to introduce a legal framework for annual cuts in carbon dioxide emissions as part of the Big Ask Campaign (See www.thebigask.com).

But Friends of the Earth warned that the G8 initiative must not undermine the Kyoto Protocol process, which provides an international mandate for tackling climate change.

Friends of the Earth also criticised the potential role envisaged for the World Bank in the G8 initiative as new research from Friends of the Earth US reveals that the World Bank is failing to meet existing targets for increasing finance for renewable energy projects [4].

Notes

[1] The European Commission has issued a five-point plan, recommending that the EU's must save energy and reduce demand. The Commission estimates that the EU could cost-effectively cut its energy consumption by 20 per cent by 2020. This would need action by governments to promote changes in consumer behaviour as well as the deployment of existing and cost-effective energy efficient technologies. The EU could save an estimated €60 billion on its energy bill and secure 50 per cent of the necessary reductions of CO2 emissions in this way. See: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/05/302 ¬
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[2] Leaving appliances on stand-by accounts for around seven per cent of electricity consumption in homes and is growing. In Europe, this amounts to about 100 billion kilowatt-hours per year, requiring 10 large power stations of 1 GW each to deliver this electricity, and costing EU citizens €15 billion a year. If nothing is done by 2020 energy consumption in the European Union (EU) could increase by 10 per cent. Seventy per cent of EU energy needs would have to be imported from third countries by 2030. The UK is also becoming an energy importer.

[3] Oil prices have risen from around $25 per barrel in January 2002 to a high in September 2005 of $70 a barrel. With world demand for energy increasing by 4.3 per cent in 2004, demand is outstripping supply and will undermine both economic and environmental goals if nothing is done. In China alone, energy consumption over the past three years has increased by 65 per cent. Global energy demand could grow by 60 per cent over the next 25 years in the absence of any decisive action to promote energy efficiency technologies. High oil prices hit the poorest hardest, both in developed and developing countries, making it even harder for them to afford to heat their homes.

[4] `Power Failure: How the World Bank is Failing to Adequately Finance Renewable Energy for Development', Friends of the Earth US, published Tuesday 1^st November 2005 - available for preview at: www.foe.org/camps/intl/institutions/renewableenergyreport10242005.pdf (PDF)

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust