Over the course of the two weeks of negotiations, alongside the official meetings, the US pavilion in the Bella Center is proposing a series of conferences bringing together the most influential American politicians of the moment. Gary Locke, US Secretary of Commerce, was there on Friday to present US climate policy under the US recovery plan, along with the aims of the Waxman-Markey bill passed in Congress.
On Monday 14 December, the small makeshift room was packed to receive Steven Chu, Nobel Prize in Physics and Secretary of Energy under the Obama Administration, known for his firm position on climate mitigation. He came accompanied by the Italian Environment Minister, Stefania Prestigiacomo, and the Indian Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, to announce the launch of a new initiative to provide technological support for developing countries, known as “Climate REDI” (Renewable and Efficiency Deployment Initiative).
The aim of this initiative is to accelerate the deployment of renewable energies and technologies that improve energy efficiency in developing countries, through mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to combat energy poverty and to improve public health among the most vulnerable, especially women and children.
Climate REDI will finance four major programmes – three of which are new – in close cooperation with existing programmes: the development of domestic solar energy in non-grid areas; the promotion of clean technologies; the creation of an online platform for sharing clean energy information; and the creation of a programme to provide technical and political assistance for the implementation of energy policies in developing countries. It is thus structured around five mechanisms: quality assurance to avoid the establishment of “sub-standards” in developing countries; minimum energy efficiency standards; performance labels aimed at consumers; funding for investments in the first stages of the development of low-carbon products, to reduce costs and encourage private investment; and, finally, information sharing on clean energies.
The funds will be released by the Major Economies Forum (MEF), which includes 17 of the most developed countries. The United States will invest 85 million dollars per year in this initiative over the next five years. Italy has pledged an investment of 30 million dollars, and Australia 5 million dollars. Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom are also partners of the United States in this programme.
This investment nevertheless appears extremely limited faced with the scope of the immediate assistance required by the poorest nations for their adaptation to climate change, estimated at between 5 and 7 billion euros per year over the next three years (“fast-start”) and 100 billion euros for the 2013-2020 period. According to Steven Chu, REDI is an initiative that is based on the immediate funding requirements of developing countries and does not foresee the outcome of the negotiations on financing for mitigation and adaptation. Moreover, the additional nature of this funding in relation to existing commitments has not been established.
However, further to this pledge, which was deemed to be limited, the United States got its first “fossil” of the negotiations. The Fossil of the Day awards, inspired by Jurassic Park, are presented every day by the NGOs to the countries that blocked progress at the negotiations.
Finally, the MEF Technology Action Plans have just been published: http://www.majoreconomiesforum.org/articles/statement-of-the-chair-of-the-leaders-representatives-of-the-major-economies-forum.html