Minister Trittin to call for the global expansion of renewable energies in Johannesburg

Federal Environment Minister travels to the World Summit

Federal Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin has called on the world community to agree on binding environmental and development targets and measures at the World Summit in Johannesburg. "Inorder to effectively combat poverty we need new, ambitious goals. 1.2 billion people have no access to drinking water or basic sanitation; 2 billion people have no electricity. A sufficient supply ofdrinking water and energy is directly linked to development and is one of the greatest challenges facing us today", stated Jürgen Trittin before his departure to Johannesburg. He willparticipate in the Summit from Friday until Tuesday.

Trittin emphasised that these energy problems can only be solved by means of massive investment in renewable energies. The German Government, together with the other EU countries, thereforesupports an increase in the global share of renewable energies from around 13 per cent at present to 15 per cent by 2010. Sustainability criteria must be fully complied with. The OECD countriesshould commit themselves to increasing their share in sustainable renewable energies by at least 2 per cent by 2010, with progress reports made every three years. "The German Government initiated anew direction in energy policy" explained the Minister. "We have shown that even large industrialised countries can launch such a policy". The German Government considers a move towards a globalsustainable energy supply with a view to climate protection to be one of the key issues of the Summit.

In addition, the Government has earmarked around 1 billion for sustainable energy projects in developing countries over the next five years. These projects will be carried out within variousinitiatives.

The German Government and its EU partners also plan to win support for the following objectives:
Halving the share of the world's population without access to basic sanitation (including wastewater treatment) by 2015, reversing the trend in the loss of natural resources by 2015 and acorresponding specific target for biodiversity by 2010. The USA in particular rejects the proposal to agree on specific, binding targets in Johannesburg: but it has already had to accept one bindingtimeframe for the conservation of global fish stocks.

As well as a political declaration and an action plan, partnerships and initiatives geared towards the concrete implementation of the action plan are to be adopted in Johannesburg. The GermanGovernment views these initiatives as supplementary to multilateral agreements, in no way as a replacement. These partnership programmes involve cooperation between groups such as the private sector,environmental associations, other non-governmental organisations and governments. Germany, for example, is collaborating with 16 other countries, in cooperation with the Global Environment Facility(GEF), on a market launch strategy for solar thermal power plants.

Around 60,000 representatives from nearly 190 countries have been negotiating in Johannesburg since Monday, at the biggest conference in the UN's history. The key issues at the Summit, whichcontinues until 4 September, are globalisation and sustainable development, poverty alleviation and the environment, energy policy and water management, resource conservation and efficiency, andsustainable consumption and production patterns.

Developments at the Summit can be followed on the Internet at www.iisd.ca/linkages/2002/wssd and www.un.org/events/wssd.