Mr. Laszlo Molnar, Chairperson of the Committee on Sustainable Energy
What trends, threats and opportunities do you see for the UNECE region in
the field of sustainable energy?
High oil prices, rapidly growing oil demand, more and more bottlenecks in
the oil infrastructure,
such as a lack of pipelines, tankers, refineries and too few oil-engineers,
have weakened the
balance of global energy supply and demand.
In recent years, the security of energy supply has decreased in the
UNECE region. Simultaneously,
the import dependence on oil and natural gas has increased, and is
now around 60 per cent and
40 per cent, respectively. Moreover 95 per cent of European Union
natural gas imports depends
on only three countries. There are many other risks, the import of
hydrocarbons comes from
politically unstable regions, the terrorist risk is growing and last
but not least, there is not enough
investment in oil and gas infrastructure.
What problems do you see for UNECE countries in the sustainable energy field?
In June 2005 a new European Union Green Paper on Energy Efficiency was published
with the
sub-title Doing More With Less. The analysis presented in the Green Paper
led to the following
three observations: the European Union is increasingly dependent on external
energy sources, it
has very little room to manoeuvre in terms of the conditions of energy supply
and is essentially
able to act at the level of demand and, finally, without taking a proactive
approach, it will not be
able to meet the challenge of climate change, and in particular the commitments
made in Kyoto.
New North American energy policies are also emphasising the importance of
energy efficiency.
Canada and some states in the United States of America, such as California,
have had very
successful energy efficiency policies that have led to stable energy
consumption in these rapidly
growing economies.
It is a new phenomenon that energy efficiency is considered as a
key factor in increasing
competitiveness and improving living conditions. Effective energy-efficiency
policies could
therefore make a major contribution to the competitiveness and
employment of the UNECE
region. At the same time we may say that energy saving is the quickest,
most effective and most
cost-effective way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Some renewable energy technologies, such as wind-power, are growing
rapidly. On the other
hand we need to mention that the expected miracle has not happened.
Renewable energies are
more expensive and less flexible in supplying energy than it
was supposed. For example, they still
need investment and operation subsidies. The shares of the renewable
energies for example in the
EU have been stagnating at around 6 per cent in the last 10 years.
What policy responses can UNECE member States take given these problems and
opportunities in the sustainable energy field?
We know some solutions to these problems such as energy efficiency, new energy
technologies,
diversification of energy supply sources, and seek to apply these through
the Committee on
Sustainable Energy as we have done in past. Indeed, the Committee on Sustainable
Energy has
oriented its next annual session and work programme for the coming years
to assisting member
States in developing secure and sustainable energy strategies together.
In
November 2006 the annual session will examine how both energy security
and sustainability can be enhanced through natural gas and alternative transport
fuels, coal and long term indigenous
fuel supplies, energy efficiency and import dependency, evaluating
energy reserves and resources
and diversifying the sources of energy supply through greater energy
production and exports in
the Caspian Sea Region. Each topic I have just mentioned has an
operational activity under the
auspices of the Committee funded by the UN and by outside donors.
We believe this is a value-added contribution of the UNECE as an institution
to bring together the views of representatives from government
departments, energy industries and the financial community to examine
these matters and recommend a concerted course of action for the future.