Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-02-Speech-4-099-000"
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"Mr President, the Commission very much welcomes the report by Mr Neuser and we clearly see eye to eye. We are equally committed to ensuring that the target of universal energy access by 2030 is fulfilled and that renewable energy increases its contribution to meeting this target.
We are all aware of the fundamental role that energy plays as a driver for development and an underpinning factor in delivering health, education, food security and economic growth, as well as the fact that clean energy brings additional benefits by reducing air pollution and the associated risk to public health. The recommendations of the report are fully in line with the strategies adopted by the Commission, such as the Agenda for Change, which recognises the unique role energy can play with regard to development.
We participate strongly in the UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative. Commissioner Piebalgs is leading a working group under the high-level panel set up by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. This initiative aims to create the concrete conditions for success in the two most pressing and, may I add, increasingly interconnected challenges mankind is confronted with: reducing poverty and combating climate change. Sustainable Energy for All will decisively contribute to both.
The Commission has been playing a strong and active role in these very early discussions and we, the EU, are rightly seen as one of the leading players, if not the leading player, in making the initiative a success. This is because of our collective role as the world’s leading donor – 60% of development cooperation funding comes from the European Union – and because of our voice in international financial institutions such as the World Bank. As a former World Bank staff member, I can confirm that it was Europe which pressured the World Bank to adopt its first ever renewable energy targets. We are also the only set of countries already committed to achieving the headline goals on energy efficiency and renewable energy. We have the Rio+20 summit coming up, with the unique opportunity it can give us to come up with new initiatives. I am sure Commissioner Piebalgs would look into ways of making that area one of the fields for funding commitments.
There is also strong recognition on our side of the role this House has played in adopting and implementing legislation to further the objectives presented in this report. We recognise the key role of renewable-base decentralised solutions in providing the poor with access to energy, and I see this when I travel to poor countries like Niger and Chad. We obviously have to be very determined in pursuing renewable energy solutions. We must also recognise that these countries have needs in connection with access to water, hence the importance of having water storage capacity. In other words, we can achieve multiple objectives by pursuing decentralised solutions.
A specific communication on universal energy access is not envisaged in 2012, but I believe we should do better than a communication. Through the active role the Union will play in the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, we can turn this into a practical action that delivers access to energy services in a sustainable way by 2030.
As part of the initiative, we are working on a mechanism to enable developing countries to opt in to a scheme whereby they would receive the necessary technical and expert assistance to develop their own national energy access strategy. This would ensure real commitment from partner countries, thus allowing conditions that enable the delivery of private investment to materialise, and I can see that Mr Neuser shares this analysis.
The Commission believes we can deliver these results together. I am very grateful to this House for its support, and grateful too for the support that the Committee on Development has always shown during our work."@en1
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