12 May 2006 - Building a 'hybrid
world' will be the answer to meeting the twin
challenges of energy-dependent economic development
and climate change, Minister for the Environment
and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, told the 14th
session of the Commission for Sustainable Development
(CSD14) in New York.
"To achieve the Millennium
Development Goals we need to make economies more
resilient. We also need to ensure our ecosystems
are maintained in good health," Senator Campbell
said.
To ensure both, we need to build
a 'hybrid world' where renewable and fossil fuel
industries work together, combining technologies
to improve efficiency. That way, the most economically
effective energy solutions will be used – at the
household level, the industrial level and the
national level.
"To the atmosphere, a tonne
of carbon saved from more efficient fossil fuel
use or sequestration is just as good as a tonne
saved by renewable energy. The key question is
which will be cheaper for any given situation."
Senator Campbell said the world
would invest many trillions of dollars on energy
generation and supply during the next few decades
– this investment must help countries grow economically
so they can lift people out of poverty, while
at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"Fossil fuels – coal, natural gas and oil
– will remain the basis of the world's energy
supply for the medium term. That is the reality
that we face.
"Renewable energy – such
as wind, solar, hydrogen and geothermal – will
play an increasingly important part in the energy
mix over time, however renewables will remain
a relatively small proportion of the mix during
the timeframe in which we need to stabilise greenhouse
gas concentrations and reach our Millennium Development
Goals.
"That reality underlines
the importance of urgently working together in
global partnerships to reduce the net emissions
from fossil fuels. It is the private sector that
will drive innovation and investment in low emission
energy technologies and it must be included in
these partnerships.
"A practical example of
these partnerships is the Asia-Pacific Partnership
for Clean Development and Climate (AP6), which
brings together government and business leaders
from Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic
of Korea and the United States."
The key themes of CSD14 are
energy for sustainable development, climate change,
air pollution/atmosphere and industrial development.
