Organizers of the event were a group of major electric companies known as the e8, now the Global Sustainable Energy Partnership (GSEP), and UN-Energy, which brings together more than 20 UN system agencies working on various aspects of energy.   Several hundred attended the day-long summit.  The organizers distributed results of a survey,  published as  Recommendations from the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership Survey 

The UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change produced in 2010 a summary report and recommendations entitled Energy for a Sustainable Future.  The 2011 Summit focused on public-private partnerships in achieving two principal goals, namely,  “Ensure universal access to modern energy services by 2030” and “Reduce global energy intensity by 40 per cent by 2030.”   

The new GSEP and UN-Energy assert that “increased energy access through technology deployment plans with enabling public policies, and an attractive financial risk-reward atmosphere created by public-private partnerships, will enable countries in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.” 

To create successful electricity-related PPPs in developing countries the Partnership Survey urges:

• Choosing electricity-generating technology appropriate to the location and conditions;

• National energy-development goals and plans with strong long-term policies and timetables enshrined in legislation and assured cost recovery and profit potential for investors in low-carbon technologies;

• Stable, sufficient funding for research, development, demonstration and deployment of emerging clean-electricity technologies;

• Measures to maximize benefits to communities from new and expanded electrification;

• Measures to optimize the private sector’s ability to do what it does best in a PPP – provide capital through many financing alternatives for electricity projects and design, construct, operate and maintain them;

• Strong relationships between the public and private sectors and other stakeholders

• Power purchase agreements, to offer the private sector the greatest certainty for long-term investments.

As stated at the Global Summit press conference, three events shape the future for energy throughout the world:  (1) The UN estimates that the earth’s population will total 7 billion by October 31; (2) there are 1.5 billion who have no access to electricity; and (3) the International Energy Agency has reported that carbon dioxide emissions reached an all-time high in 2010.

The following webcasts are available online:

Global Summit to Strengthen Public-Private Partnerships to Accelerate Global Electricity Technology Deployment (Part 1)

Global Summit to Strengthen Public-Private Partnerships to Accelerate Global Electricity Technology Deployment (Part 2)

UN-Energy and Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership – Press Conference

Biofuels Digest recently conducted a survey on the “food versus fuel” debate, specifically on the question of the “morality” of different sources of biofuel, ranging from corn to marine-based feedstocks. Respondents were self-selected, mostly US-based and largely made up of Digest readers, but gave wide-ranging comments.  As stated by the Digest “The public says “depends on the feedstock,” but generally more moral than converting land for oil & gas or housing.”  Highlights of survey results are given below, and more fully at   http://biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2011/04/06/food-vs-fuel-are-biofuels-moral-or-immoral/

Recent efforts by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are also noteworthy for emphasizing the benefits to small-scale farmers in developing countries in growing both food and biofuel feedstock. Called ‘integrated food-energy systems,’ FAO finds that small-scale, local biofuel production brings economic and environmental advantages. As stated, “Integrating and intensifying food and energy production has the potential to improve food and energy security in rural villages and the national level as well.”  www.fao.org/bioenergy/67564/en/

The Biofuels Digest survey found broad support for well-managed biofuels. The first question was key – “Is it moral, or immoral, to use a (human) food crop at any time to make energy or fuel? Examples could include anything from an ethanol cook stove, a home-based corn pellet stove, up to industrial-scale production.”  The results were — Moral 62%, Immoral 16%, Other 21%, No response 1%.  Comments were welcomed, and PPAF gave a detailed one.

Respondents were most comfortable with producing biofuels from waste oils and municipal and agricultural waste, and from idle land not suitable for growing crops.  The survey found much less support for using land previously allocated for conservation, for using trees rather than crops, or for using farmland for shopping centers. 

Obviously this is a topic of great interest to the Public-Private Alliance Foundation, as we work to encourage adoption of cookstoves fueled by sugar- and sorghum-based ethanol as an alternative to Haiti’s heavy reliance on wood and charcoal, and the consequent health, economic, and environmental problems. At the same time, popular questions do arise, and need to be answered.

Creating a locally-based, sustainable ethanol industry and spreading the adoption of ethanol-burning cookstoves should be especially valuable to people in Haiti. Food versus fuel criticisms can be addressed, and as shown in the FAO program, a local ethanol industry could bring significant benefits, help reduce Haiti’s massive deforestation and help overcome poverty.

PPAF is a member of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves http://cleancookstoves.org/ and is a partner with SIMACT (Societe Immobiliere d’Agriculture, de Commerce, et de Tourisme) http://www.simact.net/ , Project Gaia http://www.projectgaia.com/ , and other organizations to promote ethanol cookstoves in Haiti.

WHAT:      Global Summit for Strengthening Public Private Partnerships to Accelerate Global Electricity Technology Deployment 

WHERE:     UN Headquarters. 

WHEN:      June 2, 11 am to 6 pm. 

HOW TO REGISTER:       https://www.SignUp4.net/Public/ap.aspx?EID=E8GL10E  

Registration will close soon.  Also, please notify David Stillman, ppafoundation@gmail.com so we will know that you are attending.  We look forward to seeing you there. 

Mike Morris, the Chairman and CEO of American Electric Power and of the e8 and Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, the head of UN Energy are extending the welcome to additional participants for the Global Summit.    

UN-Energy is the interagency mechanism on energy.  It was established to help ensure coherence in the UN system’s multi-disciplinary response to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and to ensure the effective engagement of non-UN stakeholders in implementing WSSD energy-related decisions. It aims to promote system-wide collaboration in the area of energy with a coherent and consistent approach since there is no single entity in the UN system that has primary responsibility for energy.

The e8 is a non-profit international organization, composed of 10 world leading electricity companies.  Created in the wake of the 1992 Rio Summit on environment, Its mission is to play an active role in global electricity issues within the international framework and to promote sustainable energy development through electricity sector projects and human capacity building activities in developing and emerging nations worldwide. 

Gold Mining Consultations

The DR’s Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), South-South News and the Council for Hemispheric Affairs organized the event.  Panel presenters were Benjamin Peachey, Communications Director, International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM); Zoe Amerigian, Researcher, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA); and Manuel Bonilla, President, Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation/ Barrick.  Asunción Sanz, Director of GFDD’s Washington DC Office, and Ambassador Francis Lorenzo, President of South-South News and PPAF board member, gave introductory remarks.  Kerry Stefancyk, GFDD Representative to the UN, was the moderator. 

Mr. Peachey reviewed the work of the ICMM, which sets performance standards and puts forth guidelines on safety, social and environmental responsibility, and transparency for the mining industry. The Council has 18 company members and 30 association members in 54 countries. 

Ms. Amerigian discussed negative impacts of gold mining in Latin America, including large-scale water consumption, acid mine drainage, cyanide contamination, sedimentation of rivers, open-pit mining, mountain-top removal and worker exploitation.  She outlined recommendations for better balancing environment and economic concerns by corporations, governments and communities. 

Mr. Bonilla described the Pueblo Viejo Dominicana mine, its state of the art production processes and measures to reduce negative impacts.   A $3.3 billion joint venture of Barrick Gold and Goldcorp, it should be functioning in 2012 and produce $8 billion of revenues for the government in addition to corporate profits over its perhaps 25-year lifespan. Hazardous waste clean-up and environmental remediation have been priorities since Barrick took over the site in 2006, as the previous government contract holder had caused much damage over many years.  Going forward, responsiveness to complaints and attention to community social investment programs would also be priorities.  The mine should be a model of technology and triple bottom line performance.  Asked why he was taking such a “do-gooder” approach, Mr Bonilla said he was an environmental engineer and a patriotic Dominican. 

 For further information see: http://www.globalfoundationdd.org/gfdd/fulltext.asp?t=a&id=8135

Climate change is any long-term change in the statistics of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can express itself as a change in the mean weather conditions, the probability of extreme conditions, or in any other part of the statistical distribution of weather.

Cancun Climate Change Conference – Nov.-Dec. 2010:    The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Cancún, Mexico, 29 November to 10 December 2010. It is officially referred to as the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 6th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties (CMP 6) to the Kyoto Protocol.  Results are discussed in a press release on the UN Environment Program website: They are considered too little by many environmentalists, but a step in the right direction.

Copenhagen Climate Change Conference – December 2009     The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15), in Copenhagen, 7-18 2009, was intended to be the culmination of the international effort to address climate change before the Kyoto Treaty (below) expires in 2012. The United States, which did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol (below), was very involved in work on the Copenhagen Protocol.

Gender Issues in Climate Change:   The Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA), which includes many UN agencies as well as non-governmental organizations, aims to ensure that climate change policies, decisionmaking, and initiatives at the global, regional, and national levels are gender responsive.  It was launched at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in Dec. 2007.  

Global Warming refers to the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that increasing greenhouse gas concentrations resulting from human activity such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation are responsible for most of the observed temperature increases. Low-lying countries and coastlines are particularly vulnerable to melting arctic ice and glaciers

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  - The IPCC is the leading body for the assessment of climate change.  It was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.  It does not itself conduct research but reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change.  In 2007 the IPCC and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore were joint winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2007 the IPCC issued its Fourth Assessment Report on Climate Change, the largest and most detailed summary of the situation ever undertaken, involving thousands of authors from dozens of countries.  It stated in its summary, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal.” and “Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.”

Kyoto Protocol   The Kyoto Protocol, adopted 11 December 1997, is an international agreement linked to the UNFCCC.  As of July 2010, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol (but not the USA).  The Protocol requires 55 industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to target levels 5.2% below that of 1990. If unable to, they must buy emission credits from countries that are under these levels. Developing countries are not required to reduce emissions unless developed countries supply funding and technology. 

Sustainable Development    The 1987 United Nations Report Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development  (the Brundtland Commission)  defines sustainable development as a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development; and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations.

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)   The Convention sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenges posed by climate change. It entered into force 21 March 1994.   It recognizes that the climate system is a shared resource whose stability can be affected by industrial and other emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.  The Convention enjoys near universal membership, with 192 countries (including the United States) having ratified it.

which emerged from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.  The points below in this blog entry summarize are a summary by the Foundation of work in relation to sustainable development.

Sustainable development seeks to meet the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations. We have to learn our way out of current social and environmental problems and learn to live sustainably.  Sustainable development is a vision of development that encompasses populations, animal and plant species, ecosystems, natural resources and that integrates concerns such as the fight against poverty, gender equality, human rights, education for all, health, human security, intercultural dialogue, etc.  (UNESCO)

• UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs –   Division for Sustainable Development (New York)

DSD promotes sustainable development as the substantive secretariat to the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) and through technical cooperation and capacity-building at the international, regional and national levels.  The achievement of sustainable development requires the integration of economic, environmental and social components at all levels. This is facilitated by continuous dialogue and action in global partnership, focusing on key sustainable development issues. The Division’s website links to reports of the annual meetings of the CSD http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/   The Division is the substantive secretariat for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, to be held in Rio de Janeiro. http://www.uncsd2012.org/  

• UN Environment Program  (Nairobi and Paris)

UN Environment Program:  GREENeconomy  See especially these documents –

Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication – A Synthesis for Policy Makers (52 pp)

http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/GER_synthesis_en.pdf

Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication  (Full Report – 626 pp)

http://www.unep.org/GreenEconomy/Portals/93/documents/Full_GER_screen.pdf

UNEP Resource Kit on Sustainable Consumption http://www.unep.org/tools/default.asp?ct=sustcon

Sustainable Societies: Africa – Modules for Education in Sustainable Development curriculum. This is designed at the university level and can be used outside the African context.  It was created with Environics Foundation International, which has pretested it in Nebraska and is developing a Great Plains version. 

http://www.unep.org/training/programmes/Instructor%20Version/Overview/Foreword/index.html

• UNESCO  (Paris)

Education for Sustainable Development, for which UNESCO is the lead agency, supports five fundamental types of learning to provide quality education and foster sustainable human development – learning to know, learning to be, learning to live together, learning to do and learning to transform oneself and society.  Extensive materials are available on the website. http://www.unesco.org/en/esd/

 Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit  The toolkit is based on the idea that communities and educational systems within communities need to dovetail their sustainability efforts. As communities develop sustainability goals, local educational systems and programs can modify existing curricula or create new programs to reinforce those goals.  Published in 2006. (130 pages)   

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001524/152453eo.pdf

Media as Partners in Education for Sustainable Development  The toolkit is part of a series on Journalism Education.  It encourages the journalist to know enough science to understand technical issues, but to communicate this with clarity to the public.  2008 (71 pages)

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001587/158787E.pdf

• UN-Energy (Various).  Secretariat: DESA (New York);  Chair: UNIDO (Vienna)

UN-Energy was established to help ensure coherence in the UN system’s multi-disciplinary response to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and to ensure the effective engagement of non-UN stakeholders in implementing WSSD energy-related decisions. It aims to promote system-wide collaboration in the area of energy with a coherent and consistent approach since there is no single entity in the UN system that has primary responsibility for energy.  Twenty UN-related agencies are members.  Secretariat services are provided by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).  http://esa.un.org/un-energy/index.htm

• UN Development Programme (New York)

UNDP’s work on Environment and Energy is focused on six priority areas:

Integrating Environment into Development ; Effective Water and Oceans Governance; Access to sustainable energy services ;Sustainable land management to combat desertification & land degradation;  Conservation & sustainable use of biodiversity; National/sectoral policy & planning to control emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) & persistent organic pollutants POPs. http://www.undp.org/energyandenvironment/  

• FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization (Rome)

Natural resources and their services are essential to food production, enhanced rural development and sustainable livelihoods.  As summarized by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report published in 2005, “….. any progress achieved in addressing the Millennium Development Goals of poverty and hunger eradication and environmental sustainability is unlikely to be sustained if most ecosystem services on which humanity relies continue to be degraded….”.

FAO’s Natural Resources Management and Environment Department provides leadership, technical and policy advice towards the sustainable use of the earth’s natural resources; improved responses to global environmental challenges affecting food and agriculture, assessment of opportunities and challenges of bioenergy; and strengthened transfer and extension of knowledge required towards these goals.  The Department consists of two Divisions: Climate, Energy and Tenure Division and Land and Water Division.

Extensive resources are available at: http://www.fao.org/nr/aboutnr/en/  FAO’s preparations toward the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) can be viewed at. http://www.fao.org/rio20/e-forum/en/ 

 UNICEF (New York)

All UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)  programmes are designed to contribute to the Millennium Development Goal #7 target on water and sanitation — to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation.   Information on programs, statistics, etc., are available at:  http://www.unicef.org/wash/

UNICEF also partners in Sanitation and Water for All, aimed at achieving universal and sustainable access to sanitation and drinking-water, by firmly placing this on the global agenda with an immediate focus on achieving the MDGs in the most off-track countries. http://www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/aboutswa.html

• UNIDO (Vienna)

UNIDO recognizes that all industrial, activities create a burden on the environment while simultaneously creating revenues. Major problems include global warming, loss of biodiversity, water and air pollution, releases of persistent organic pollutants & other toxic substances, and land degradation including coastal erosion.

UNIDO focuses its efforts on Environmental Management and Energy and Climate Change programs including (1) Services re cleaner and sustainable production ; water management; and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Persistent Toxic Substances (PTS); (2) Energy and climate change, including greater access to modern energy services, increasing productivity through energy efficiency, and reducing GHG emissions;        (3) Promoting renewable and rural energy solutions; and (4) and Global forum activities including sharing information and experiences and chairing the inter-agency entity UN-Energy.  http://www.unido.org/

• World Bank (Washington)

Much of the World Bank’s work in sustainable development occurs via an internal grouping of departments, the Sustainable Development Network.  It covers a wide range of economic sectors: agriculture and rural development, energy, transport, water, environment, urban development, social development, oil, gas, mining, and chemicals, information and communication technologies, and sub-national activities.  The Bank aims to make sustainability its comparative advantage, enhancing the quality of growth to help developing countries move to, and remain on, a development path that reduces poverty and meets the needs of people today without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their own goals.

 The Network’s agenda embraces the “triple bottom line” of sustainability – economic, environmental and social – as well as anticipates and addresses major trends such as climate change, natural resource depletion, food scarcity, and urban expansion.   http://www.worldbank.org/ 

 http://www.worldbank.org/sustainabledevelopment/

The Public-Private Alliance Foundation is teaming with Global Investment Summits and the SImACT Foundation to identify participants, speakers and sponsors for the upcoming Haiti Reconstruction and Sustainability Summit.  The Summit will take place in Miami in September; click for the draft program.        

Lord Kevin Lumb of Global Investment Summits, Fritz Clairvil of SImACT Foundation and David Stillman, Public-Private Alliance Foundation, traveled from April 10-14 to Port-au-Prince, Leogane and Jacmel to prepare for the Summit and to view possible Haitian venues for a follow-up Summit. 

 They met representatives of government, business and international organizations, including the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, including its Investment Promotion Center, UN Development Programme, Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, Donna Karen, creator of Donna Karen New York and DKNY, and others.  In Jacmel the team visited the Hotel Cap Lamandou and Belle Rive properties as investment prospects.  The trip provided many good contacts and future leads.  Meetings relevant to the Ethanol Cookstove Project also took place.

Kevin Lumb, Fritz Clairvil, David Stillman

 SImACT and the Public-Private Alliance Foundation are assisting Global Investment Summits (GIS), a company well experienced in convening business summits worldwide, in relation to the September event and possibly future ones re Haiti. GIS aims to donate  net profits from the September summit, to SImACT Foundation, which is registered as a non-profit in Haiti, for a project with visible results to assist Haiti’s rebuilding after the earthquake.   

Haiti consumes over 4 million tons of firewood every year

The ethanol cookstove partnership for Haiti will start small, with pilot testing of stoves and fuel already available elsewhere.  It aims for a sizeable future with local production and users ranging from families in post-earthquake tent camps to hot food street vendors to schools. 

On this trip, team members consulted with representatives of the UN Environment Programme, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs of Haiti, the Embassy of Brazil, the International Rescue Committee, a metal shop owner, a watershed management advisor, two owners of hardware store chains, a fuel distributor and a group of sugar farmers and distillers.  All offered valuable perspectives, questions and advice to help the project move forward.

Raoul of the Mahaleos, New York City, May 2008

 Photo: Scott Wright

The Mahaleo website refers to him as the eldest of the group, the Landmark, the pillar, whom the other members of the group nicknamed the “dinosaur.” He had studied medicine in Romania and returned home with a heightened social awareness.  He wanted to convey to many the importance of land value and common sense farming in Madagascar. He was a doctor at the clinic of the port of Tamatave, a luthier and also built guitars using bike cables.  According to the Mahaleos, “He left us, but his songs are opening avenues of thought and action both pragmatic and poetic….they deserve to be reread and pondered as they are more topical than ever.”  Read more at http://www.mahaleo.com/ ; the siite also has links to the Mahaleos’ musical tributes to Raoul on Youtube. 

The Public-Private Alliance Foundation had collected donations for a solar panel for the school at Ambalarandra, the village where Raoul volunteered his services.  We are waiting to hear about next steps, and will inform donors as soon as we can.

David Stillman of the Public-Private Alliance Foundation, Fritz Clairvil of SImACT, Inc., Harry Stokes, Brady Luceno and Gulce Askin of Project Gaia and Alfred Toussaint of Nova Technology Partners, Inc., participated on September 23 in a meeting on carbon finance to scale up the adoption of clean cookstoves, held in New York. The team is working with several other partners on a project to develop ethanol productivity and market and bring ethanol-based cookstoves to Haiti.   They later joined in the launching event for the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.   For further information, see http://www.cleancookstoves.org/

The UN Foundation organizers had invited Project Gaia to provide a stove for display.  It was one of eight on display, all others being for wood or charcoal.

Alfred Toussaint views stoves at the Global Alliance opening; Project Gaia ethanol stove in forefront

With $50 million in U.S. seed money, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public-private initiative led by the United Nations Foundation and a consortium of governments, NGOs and business groups, is confronting one of the leading causes of premature death and global climate change.  The aim is to help a target of 100 million households adopt clean burning cookstoves and fuel by 2020. The Alliance’s ten-year, $250 million commitment will go beyond improving local health and the environment, because the Alliance will help to create local and sustainable industry. Stoves will be built close to market and tailored for local cooking techniques, foods, and fuels.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a US contribution of $50 million to help get the Global Alliance started. 

Burning biomass for cooking leads to 1.9 million premature deaths a year, primarily among women and children.  It is by some estimates the second leading contributor to global climate change, behind industrial burning of fossil fuels. In addition, foraging for wood and other fuel for traditional stoves often endangers women’s and children’s personal security. By fostering the adoption at scale of locally produced, low-cost cookstoves that can reduce  emissions by 50%  and more over traditional stoves,  the Global Alliance seeks to save lives while improving livelihoods and creating new opportunities for women.