1. On the occasion of the 13th Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Bali, Indonesia, 03-14 December 2007, Mr. Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General of UNIDO and newly elected Chairman of UN-Energy, invited Heads of agencies and senior staff of UN-Energy members to a breakfast meeting held at Aston Bali Hotel, Nusa Dua, Bali, 13 December 2007, 9-10 am.
2. The agenda and the list of participants are attached at Annex I and II respectively.
3. In his opening remarks, Mr. Kandeh Yumkella, Chairman of UN-Energy, welcomed the group and expressed his appreciation of the high-level participation and of the interest in stepping up engagement in UN-Energy. He outlined the objectives of the meeting and emphasized the importance of effective collaboration in UN-Energy with a view to enhance implementation of WSSD decisions and to address the energy and sustainable development challenges.
4. Upon invitation of the Chairman, Mr. Luis Gomez-Echeverri, UNIDO Consultant, briefed the group on his consultations with the various members on the common perspectives for development of collaboration under UN-Energy. Mr. Gomez-Echeverri summarized the achievements of UN-Energy during the first three years of its existence and noted that the time appears to be right and the circumstances conducive for a higher level of ambition. Mr. Gomez-Echeverri identified a number of challenges that could be addressed by the members of UN-Energy with some urgency: UN-Energy could benefit from (i) a (sharper) vision statement; (ii) the right governance structure, and (iii) a clear thematic focus in its work. The consultant also proposed (iv) UN-Energy to move from an information sharing to a knowledge sharing network, and stated that (v) partnerships will be important, both to enrich the work as well as the resources of UN-Energy. The consultant proposed that (vi) UN-Energy explores options for organizing its work using the cluster approach, and (vii) schedules its periodical meetings well in advance. He also suggested a number of possible topics for the substantive work of UN-Energy, including energy efficiency standards, scenario building and the promotion of sustainable development policies and measures towards a low carbon economy.
5. The Chairman invited the participants to comment on the suggestions of the consultant and/or to share their views of the future areas of work for UN-Energy. The group welcomed the proposal to form clusters to work towards selected outputs. It was felt that UN-Energy should continue to emphasize the importance of access to energy services for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The importance of observation and analysis of major development and energy market trends was also mentioned. The representative of the World Bank emphasized that UN-Energy needs to ”stay ahead of the curve” to ensure that its agenda is always relevant and up-to-date. The representative of the World Health Organization drew attention to the importance of analyzing interlinkages, including the various health aspects. The representative of the Economic Commission for Africa suggested UN-Energy to include discussion of energy security concerns, also addressing issues such as energy pricing and energy subsidies. The representative of UN-Habitat called for more attention to be given to energy needs and energy use at the household level. She also highlighted the importance of public transport and urban planning. The group was also informed of the thematic cluster of issues due to be taken up by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) at its up-coming 16th and 17th sessions in 2008-2009, including agriculture, land, rural development, drought, desertification, and Africa.
6. After discussion the group agreed to organize its work within the framework of the agreed terms of reference and governance structure of UN-Energy. The group decided to focus its work on the implementation of WSSD decisions, in particular in the three thematic areas of (i) access to energy services for sustainable development, in particular in developing countries; (ii) promotion of energy efficiency; and (iii) increasing the share of renewable energy in total energy supply. Aspects pertaining to cleaner and more advance energy technologies, and well as aspects pertaining to financing of energy sector investments could also be regarded as issues of priority concern to UN-Energy. The group noted that its work in the fore mentioned areas would also include addressing climate change concerns. At this time, no separate work programme element on climate change would be needed. The group shared the view that arranging the work in thematic clusters offers considerable advantages, as not all members of UN-Energy conduct work in all areas.
7. The Chairman noted that it was important to link to the work of UN-Energy with that of the five Regional Commissions, including ECA (acting as secretariat to UN-Energy Africa), ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP and ESCWA.
8. The Chairman invited members to express their respective interests in contributing to the three fore mentioned clusters, and to designate the relevant focal point(s) in their respective organizations. It was suggested that UNDP and DESA would cooperate and take a lead in work on access to energy, UNIDO would take a lead on energy efficiency, and UNEP and FAO would take a lead in the field of promoting the use of renewable energy. UNESCO also expressed interest in joining the cluster work on renewables. It was agreed that UN-Energy clusters should be “open-ended”, giving all agencies the opportunity of contributing to all clusters.
9. The Chairman proposed that UN-Energy organizes a VC/TC at the end of January 2008 with a view to further discuss the development of a collaborative work plan.
10. The Chairman also proposed and it was agreed to convene a meeting of the UN-Energy membership in Vienna during the last week of February 2008 (back-to-back with meeting of the Global Energy Assessment project). The detailed dates of the meeting will be communicated in due course.
11. The Chairman noted the importance of keeping the UN-Energy website informative and up-to-date, and he invited all members to periodically inform the UN-Energy secretariat of any up-coming major meetings or events that could be included in the UN-Energy calendar of meetings. The calendar of meetings should include all high profile events of strategic relevance to UN-Energy activities.
12. The Executive Director of UN-Habitat invited UN-Energy members to take part in the World Urban Forum 4 in Nanjing, China, 13-17 October 2008.
13. The Chairman invited all participants to take part in the UN-Energy Side-Event at UNFCCC CoP-13, focusing on the topic of bio-energy, held at Aston Bali Hotel at lunch time the same day.
14. The participants expressed their appreciation of the initiative of the Chair of organizing the breakfast meeting and of the hospitality provided.
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ANNEX 1
Breakfast Meeting UN-Energy Heads of Agencies
Aston Bali Hotel
Nusa Dua, Bali, 13 December 2007
Agenda
_______________________________________
ANNEX II
List of participants
UN-Energy members |
|
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) |
J. Dione |
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) |
A. Mueller |
High-level Committee of Programmes (HCLP) |
M. Karlsson (former Chair UN-Energy) |
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (HABITAT) |
A. Tibaijuka (Executive Director) |
|
A. Gebre-Egziabher |
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) |
H.H. Rogner |
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) |
L. Assuncao |
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) |
O. Kjorven (Vice-Chair UN-Energy) |
|
V. Vandeweerd |
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) |
A. Steiner |
|
S. Lemmet |
|
M. Radka |
|
M. Gomera |
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) |
P. Bernal |
|
O. Benchikh |
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) |
K. Yumkella (Chair of UN-Energy) |
|
M. Ploutakhina |
World Bank Group (WBG) |
J. Saghir |
World Health Organization (WHO) |
P. K. Singh |
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) |
Sha Zukang |
|
K. Abdalla |
|
R. Wahnschafft (Secretary to UN-Energy) |
Chief Executives Board Secretariat |
A. Amin |