Thematic Debate. 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Transcription

1 Thematic Debate 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly Sustainable Development and Climate Change: Practical Solutions in the Energy Water Nexus New York, 16 May 2013 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The objective of the thematic debate, convened by the President of the 67th Session of the General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Vuk Jeremić, in partnership with the United Arab Emirates with support from the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), was to discuss the fundamental and critical linkages between energy and water (the energy water nexus ), as Member States tackle the challenges of climate change and sustainable development. Representatives from the Member States, multilateral organizations, private sector, civil society and academic institutions all welcomed the timeliness of holding the thematic debate, coinciding with various processes underway to define the post 2015 development agenda as the Millennium Development Goals reach the target year of Professor Jeffry Sachs of the SDSN commended the President of the General Assembly for convening the thematic debate by saying, there is no more important issue in the world than the one we are discussing today. The one day event was comprised of plenary sessions, including views from the frontline featuring prominent scientists and experts, and two interactive roundtable panel discussions on Energy Water Nexus: Global Goals and Frameworks and Energy Water Nexus: Technological Advancements and Investment. The thematic debate was organized in an informal setting for Member States and relevant experts to exchange views, ideas and lessons learned on the energy water nexus, both as a challenge and a solution. Participants agreed that energy and water are fundamentally linked. Both are, in the words of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, indispensable to life and prerequisites for sustainable development. Energy and water must be addressed together given their interlinkages, rather than in isolation. Prominent scientists and experts provided evidence indicating how human activities have seriously altered the state of the environment and have induced a wide range of environmental issues in the recent decades. Climate change, one of the most challenging environmental issues, is likely to worsen water scarcity in the future, affecting energy as well as food production and supply that are closely linked to water availability. 1

2 Participants highlighted some of the progress made and various initiatives undertaken on securing energy and water supplies to meet socio economic developmental goals and at the same time, minimizing associated environmental impacts. However, not enough has been done and Member States and relevant stakeholders must take immediate actions to avoid catastrophic consequences in the future. Participants called for investments in innovative and practical solutions. Renewable energy could particularly play an important role in currently energy scarce regions such as Africa. Participants also called for the need for addressing water and energy as priority issues in the post 2015 development agenda, as the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals deliberate on a set of goals to be proposed to the 68th Session of the General Assembly. A number of key messages and actions points emerged from the thematic debate: 1) Ensure access to sustainable energy and appropriate water supplies to all; 2) Endorse integrated policy planning and resource management to address energy and water together; 3) Transition to a low carbon, green economy to achieve sustainable development; 4) Develop a set of sustainable development goals that will address energy and water as key priority issues; 5) Invest in technology development and innovation in order to increase resource efficiency; 6) Promote sustainable consumption and production in view of planetary boundaries and limited resource availability; and 7) Strengthen international cooperation to facilitate resource mobilization and technology transfer. The thematic debate concluded with a positive note that challenges can also be opportunities to expand economic sectors, diversify the economy and establish policies to drive investments. Participants agreed that continued international dialogues and information exchange on the energy water nexus will lead to practical solutions and successes in meeting the challenges of climate change and sustainable development. 2

3 KEY MESSAGES AND ACTION POINTS IN DEPTH SUMMARY Participating scientists and experts reported that we now live in the anthropocene, an era in which human activities are significantly altering the planet and breaching planetary boundaries the Earth s ecological carrying capacity. For example, 25 per cent of rivers no longer reach the ocean due to construction of dams, affecting the water flow. Impacts of human induced climate change are also affecting all, regardless of location. Extreme and unpredictable weather events such as increased droughts, heat waves, flood and cyclones are increasing and are expected to occur more frequently in the future. Changes in seasonal patterns are also resulting in higher energy consumption for heating or cooling in some regions, affecting the poor the most. Policy makers urgently need to develop appropriate policies based on scientific evidence so that measures can be taken to ensure sustainable development for all. 1) Ensure access to sustainable energy and appropriate water supplies to all. According to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon, [a]ccess to sustainable energy and appropriate water supplies is essential for alleviating poverty, promoting health, raising living standards and achieving sustainable development. At the same time, around 780 million people lack access to clean water and 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity. About 3.5 billion people suffer from water scarcity and it is expected that water will become even scarcer as the world s population continue to increase to 9 10 billion by 2050, in combination with the impacts of climate change. Collective global efforts must be made by all relevant stakeholders to ensure access to sustainable energy and appropriate water supplies to all, while keeping in mind of finite resources 2) Endorse integrated policy planning and natural resource management to address energy and water together. Water and energy are important issues in their own right, but cannot be addressed in isolation because they are fundamentally linked and heavily interdependent. A large amount of energy is required for pumping, treating (including desalination and recycling) and transporting water. Similarly, a large quantity of water is needed for extracting energy, generating power (e.g., hydroelectricity), cooling or irrigation for biomass. Furthermore, food production and distribution requires large inputs of both energy and water. Energy and water are also economically linked: saving one will save the other, leading to significant cost savings. Therefore, integrated or holistic and balanced approaches to policy planning and resource management are critical to ensuring access to energy and water in an increasing resource scarce environment. In addition, an adaptive approach should be taken as the applicability of certain policies or management systems may change over time, given the changing circumstances. It is essential to avoid working in silos, but to work cooperatively across governments and with all sectors, particularly with the private sector. Appropriate research and data collection also plays an important role in supporting policy planning and resource management. Good resource management is equally important to the 3

4 private sector as it helps to avoid business risks associated with climate change and water scarcity. Improving resource efficiency also results in reducing operational costs by millions of dollars. 3) Transition to a low carbon, green economy to achieve sustainable development. The current economy is heavily dependent on carbon based systems that emit a large amount of carbon dioxide which is the leading cause of climate change. A week before the thematic debate, it was reported that the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide reached a record high in millions of years, which further raised the urgency for taking appropriate measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Furthermore, the poor are most affected by environmental pressures and yet have the least means to respond. Therefore, there is a need to decouple economic growth from carbon based systems and move away from business as usual and transition to a low carbon, green economy which makes use of new technologies to maximize resource efficiency while reducing emissions. Some Member States reported that they are in the process of developing national strategies for green economy. Participants called onto governments to create enabling conditions to facilitate green, low carbon technology development and infrastructure development, for example, through market reform and restructuring of tariff structures. 4) Develop a set of sustainable development goals that will address the energy and water as key priority issues. At the 2012 Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Member States renewed their political commitments to sustainable development and agreed to establish a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals as the Millennium Development Goals reach the target year of The UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals is in the process of developing the goals that will drive the global development agenda in the coming years. A clearly set goals and targets, keeping in mind of common but differentiated responsibilities, will help directing collective efforts to concrete results, for example, eradicating poverty and advancing the sustainable energy, water and food agenda. Participants agreed the importance of addressing both energy and water in the set of goals. Questions were raised as to how the nexus or the linkages may be best addressed, and more broadly, how the post 2015 development process can best ensure that the benefits of sustainable energy and clean water can be secured for future generations. Participants also stressed that unfinished work under the Millennium Development Goals must continue and be completed under the sustainable development goals. 5) Invest in technology development and innovation in order to increase resource efficiency. Technology development and innovation are critical for sustainable development. Participants called for investments at scale to stimulate research and development in innovative sciences, technologies and 4

5 business models for the energy water nexus management in order to increase productivity while reducing resource use and emissions. At the same time, solutions must be economically and socially viable. Renewable energy, namely hydro, solar, wind and geothermal power generation as well as biomass, has a great potential as a low carbon technology, but participants expressed a need for restructuring the energy market in order to fully exploit its potential. For example, the deployment of solar power generation should be encouraged, especially in regions such as Africa where there is huge potential, but currently lacking access to adequate energy supplies. Solar power is also an economically viable option, since the cost has significantly declined over the years. Hydropower generation especially small scale hydro dams could be of interest to water scarce regions as it can both store water and generate electricity, thus can balance demand and supply according to needs. However, its efficiency and reliability may be affected by climate change, with increasingly fluctuating weather patterns. Thus, it is also important to diversify the energy mix to increase resilience of energy and water supplies. Participants also highlighted other forms of practical solutions that could bring both environmental and economical benefits, including: carbon capture and storage; reuse of water; improve energy efficiency (e.g., enhance efficiency in power generation or cooling of buildings) and water efficiency (e.g., eliminate leakage or adopt drip irrigation); new desalination technologies to decouple water and energy production (e.g., use renewable energy or membrane technology); utilization of sensors and automatic processes in resource management as well as appropriate metering and measurements. In addition, participants discussed the importance of better stimulating private sector innovation by creating incentives for efficient use of energy and water. The importance of improved service provision was also raised, in order to secure adequate investments for infrastructure development and maintenance. 6) Promote sustainable consumption and production in view of planetary boundaries and limited resource availability. Participants stressed that technological advancements and innovation would not be enough to overcome the energy water challenges. For example, increasing water supply through desalination and other technologies alone is not a solution given the overall limited availability of fresh water. The issue of consumption must be looked as well, keeping in mind of the availability of finite resources. Thus, participants called for promoting sustainable consumption and production, with focus on demand side management (e.g., metering) in combination with technological development and innovation, at both large and small scales. 7) Strengthen international cooperation to facilitate resource mobilization and technology transfer. Governments have an important role to play to catalyze change. It cannot facilitate changes alone, but it can provide incentives and create enabling conditions to engage different actors. The involvement of 5

6 new partnerships and resources were called for, particularly, the role of the private sector was stressed, both in terms of taking a lead on technology development and providing financing. Participants discussed the importance of international cooperation: developed countries are expected to support developing countries through technology transfer (e.g., by sharing relevant low carbon technologies) and to deliver financing commitments (e.g., by providing funds for climate change mitigation and adaptation under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change). Participants also stressed the importance of capacity building through facilitation of dialogues and information exchange on the energy water nexus among different stakeholders so that practical solutions could be explored to meet the challenges of climate change and sustainable development. 6

7 ABOUT THE THEMATIC DEBATE High level thematic debates are convened by the Presidents of the UN General Assembly to provide an informal setting for the UN Member States and relevant experts to exchange views, ideas and lessons learned on selected topics. Participants in the plenary sessions included H.E. Mr. Vuk Jeremić, President of the General Assembly; Mr. Wu Hongbo, United Nations Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs; H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State and Special Envoy for Energy and Climate Change of the United Arab Emirates Mr. Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Environment; H.E. Ms. Izabella Teixeira, Minister of Environment of Brazil; Ms. Beata Jaczewska, Deputy Minister of Environment of Poland; Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Earth Institute, Columbia University; Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Chairman of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Director General of the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI); The Hon. Craig Knowles, Chair, Murray Darling Basin Authority of Australia; Professor Laurence Tubiana, Director, Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations, Sciences Po; Professor Johan Rockström, Executive Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. The first panel on Energy Water Nexus: Global Goals and Frameworks was moderated by H.E. Mr. Geir O. Pedersen, Permanent Representative of Norway to the UN, and featured presentations by Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Special Adviser of the Secretary General on Post 2015 Development Planning; Ms. Gisela Alonso Domínguez, President, Cuban Agency of Environment; Ms. Samantha Smith, Director of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Global Climate Change and Energy Initiative; Mr. Zhou Dadi, Director General (Emeritus), Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission; and Professor Mark A. Cane, G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences, the Earth Institute, Columbia University. The second panel on Energy Water Nexus: Technological Advancements and Investment was moderated by Mr. Adnan Z. Amin, Director General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and featured Mr. Jeff Seabright, Vice President of Environment and Water Resources, the Coca Cola Company; H.E. Ms. Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General, Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi; Professor Vijay Modi, Columbia University; and Mr. Brice Lalonde, Special Advisor on Sustainable Development, United Nations Global Compact. Statements, presentations and webcast of the thematic debate are available: 7