Brussels, 18/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - The Council of the EU takes the view that access to energy is one of the main challenges for development. It stresses this point in unanimous conclusions on “Access to sustainable energy sources at the local level in developing countries”, adopted without debate at the meeting of EU foreign ministers, chaired by Jan Kohout, in Brussels on Monday 18 May.
Noting that, in developing countries, 1.6 billion people have no access to electricity, 2.5 billion use the traditional biomass for cooking and access to electricity is very low in rural areas despite the potential of different renewable energy sources, the Council believes that putting the emphasis on sustainable energy is a way to way to tackle a triple challenge: consolidating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), addressing the global crisis and mitigating the effects of climate change. In this regard, the EU looks forward to the discussions at the G8 energy ministers' meeting in Rome on 24-25 May.
The Council welcomes the Commission's working paper on access to renewable sources of energy in developing countries, which recommends increased support from the EU for local solutions and initiatives by local players, promotion of decentralised solutions based on renewable energies, improving energy efficiency, setting up appropriate frameworks and financial that can help partner countries draw up and apply sustainable energy provision policies and the long-term legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks in this area.
The Council welcomes the Commission's intention to provide support for the Africa-EU Partnership on Energy. It calls on the Commission, member states and African countries to increase the interaction between Africa-EU Partnership roadmaps on Energy, Climate Change, MDGs and Infrastructure. In its efforts to help developing countries attract international, national and local capital, the Council wants the EU to seek appropriate solutions that will ensure joint public-private funding of the investment required for access to sustainable energy sources at local level. The Clean Development Mechanism is an important source of additional funding for renewable energy projects, the Council says.
The Council welcomes the Commission's intention to launch a second ACVP-EU Energy Facility worth €200 million, under the 10th EDF, and calls on member states to participate through co-financing. (A.N./transl.rt)