Disappointment at Rio

EBN Advisory Board member Mike Nicklas led an international delegation of renewable energy experts in promoting sustainable energy at the Earth Summit last month. He and others were negotiating for inclusion of renewable energy and energy conservation measures into agreements being worked out for the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development. Representing the International Solar Energy Society at three of the four “PrepCom” meetings as well as the actual Earth Summit in Rio, Nicklas watched (and participated in) the process firsthand. He came away from the experience deeply disappointed. Oil and nuclear interests in the United States, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, he said, used their power over the political process to kill or water down not only the Climate Change Treaty, but also the important, yet less publicized, ‘Protection of the Atmosphere’ section of Agenda 21.

“The political strength of these energy industries was felt long before Rio,” noted Nicklas. In fact, he said that because of the tremendous influence of the oil and nuclear lobbies—particularly on the U.S. Administration’s positions—the UNCED agenda for the first two PrepCom meetings included no reference to energy as a contributor to the world’s environmental problems! Finally, by the end of PrepCom 4 specific reference to promotion and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency was added to Chapter 9 (“Protection of the Atmosphere”) of Agenda 21. Agreement was even reached at this pre-Rio meeting on how the U.N. and member countries would account for environmental and societal costs of pollution-generating energy in future decisionmaking. A feeling of optimism began growing…. But then at the Rio summit, the oil-producing countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, “threatened to reject the entire ‘Protection of the Atmosphere’ chapter unless all references to the development and implementation of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and societal cost accounting were removed,” said Nicklas.