16.06.2009
As both Asia and the EU are both net energy important and need to diversity their energy sources, the two regions should cooperate to develop a low carbon economy, develop renewables and be more energy efficient, said speakers at an EPC Dialogue, held in cooperation with Leiden University’s International Institute for Asia Studies. While the two regions must take a common stand, some developing countries, including those in Asia are concerned that EU environmental policies could build trade barriers for Asian goods.
Pisan Manawapat, Thai Ambassador to the EU, said sustainable development was a topic that is much discussed at Asian inter-regional meetings: at the ASEM Meeting four years ago, the Beijing meeting in 2008 and this May’s Yogyakarta Conference.
The EU had raised the issue on several occasions: its 2006 Sustainable Development Strategy is a cornerstone to engage with the rest of the world and its stance has catalysed governments, the private sector and citizens round the world into action.
In Asia, this year’s ASEAN Summit issued a strong statement on sustained recovery and development, and agreed on a Roadmap for the Millennium Development Goals, which includes sustainable development. However, ASEAN also emphasized that sustainable development must not create trade barriers for developing countries.
The EU and Asia face similar challenges. Their normal bureaucratic mechanisms cannot deal with the coordination and interaction between stakeholders needed to build a sustainable development programme, or help balance industrial activities and pollution. In addition, protecting the environment can clash with international trade as developing countries fear they will be adversely affected by EU policies that reduce market access for any goods deemed to damage the environment. He suggested the EU establish a “single clearing house” to flag up new European directives or standards that might restrict trade or market access.
If the EU wants to be the global frontrunner on sustainable development, it must deal with its fiscal deficits to ensure stability and balance its economic and national policies while taking account of developing countries’ needs.
Chris Vanden Bilcke, Head of the Environmental and Sustainable Development Unit, Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the new paradigm on sustainable development is that the environment is the foundation of economic and social progress.
He believed the Copenhagen outcome was positive as negotiations will continue along two parallel tracks, and the Copenhagen Accord specified that global warming must not rise more than 2˚C and set up a green climate fund and other mechanisms. However the debacle during negotiations demonstrated the importance of staying within the UN multilateral format, as must happen at Cancun and other international meetings this year
Mr Vanden Bilcke described areas of sustainability where significant negotiations are taking place: biodiversity, mercury elimination, chemicals, desertification, pollution and improving the UN structure for better international environmental governance.
He said that sadly the 1987 Brundtland Report on the need to build integrated institutions to deal with environmental challenges is still valid, and hoped that policy-makers would realise that economic, financial, food, climate and environmental crises are all part of the same crisis.
Richard Young, Head of Sector, EuropeAid Cooperation Office, European Commission, said Asia is regaining its place as a major economic region, but the level of poverty in Asia is still very high.
He believed that the global agreement on keeping temperature increases to 2˚C could be achieved by focusing on the concept of “low-carbon growth and development”. He foresaw that Europe will pursue vigorous capitalism and maintain a generous welfare state, and Asia will advance social cohesion (i.e. reduce poverty) without damaging competitiveness.
At the same time, the EU must apply its multiply policies coherently. Its internal policies should be based on social protection, getting people back to work and mixing solidarity with employment and it must ensure its trade and development policies are coherent.
Mr Young said the Yogyakarta Statement from the ASEM Development conference in May stressed the future of Asia-Europe cooperation for sustainable development, the importance of climate change and low-carbon development, the role of social cohesion in promoting sustainable development and the need for policy coherence in sustainable development.
The Statement will feed into the forthcoming ASEM8 Summit in Brussels, stressing the need to move towards a comprehensive and mutually beneficial partnership, to respond to the needs of different countries and to move beyond aid to trade, finance and investment, climate change, food security and migration.
Christopher Dent, Professor in East Asia Studies, Leeds University, said energy was an important functional element of economy and society but current energy production and consumption structures are unsustainable. Energy is increasing important in Asian-European relations, as both regions are net energy importers, and need to diversify sources for greater security.
They need to cooperate to develop green energy paradigms, focusing on energy efficiency and renewables. Given the forecast growth in Asia’s population, its primary energy demand will double by 2030 and energy consumption increase to 40% in 2030 (from 32% in 2007) with China as the major Asian consumer. To reflect this Asia’s share of emissions will increase from 37% today to 43% in 2030 (compared to 20% each for Europe and North America).
Energy dialogues between the EU and East Asia will increase as the two regions establish strong green energy partnerships at multiple levels. They should promote stronger multilateral cooperation and governance on energy security, prioritise energy cooperation during the G20 talks, work closely with ‘third regions’, such as Africa, or Central Asia on energy issues and the EU should support China’s accession to the International Energy Association.
Hongyi Lai, Professor in Contemporary Chinese Studies, Nottingham University, said the pace and level of China’s economic development have demonstrated the need to meet environmental challenges. China’s rapid industrialisation and urbanisation have quadrupled its energy consumption, and it relies heavily on coal, which constitutes 70% of its energy sources.
China will soon confront serious environmental degradation, with heavy air, water and land pollution. Its use of energy is still relatively inefficient as it uses energy at 3.5 times the world average. To mitigate this, it is planning to develop clean coal technology and increase the use of nuclear power and renewables.
China and the EU must cooperate on energy and environment issues, in terms of energy efficiency, clean coal technology, nuclear power and renewable energy and pricing and market mechanisms said Mr Hongyi. They should jointly explore and process energy resources, use their leverage in joint negotiations with energy exporters and share and exchange information and technology.
Mr Hongyi said China-EU cooperation on conventional environmental issues includes rule-making, sound institutions, infrastructure development and funding public awareness. They should cooperate to reduce CO2 emissions by engaging in low-carbon technology transfer and joint projects, with the EU acting as a model for low-carbon public transport and a more low-carbon life-style.
Obviously the two regions have different priorities, levels of development and expectations, so the challenge is to find the potential to move forward.
Hugo-Maria Schally, DG Environment, European Commission, believed it was no longer relevant to divide the world into developed and developing countries in terms of sustainable development.
He felt there was a growing frustration in the UN’s multilateral system, as the Copenhagen climate talks and the Doha Development Round have both failed.
However, he believed the 2012 UN Summit on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit) was likely to be successful as it focuses on green economy and poverty eradication, where there are great opportunities for Asia and Europe to cooperate. Ironically, the financial crisis marked an opportunity to cooperate and could mark the start of moving to a radical pathway for a sustainable Europe by 2020, creating new jobs and industries through low-carbon technologies.
Together Asia and Europe can jointly move from wasteful models of consumption and production to more growth with fewer resources, and he mentioned SWITCH, an EU project in Asia, which helps SMEs change to more sustainable means of production; a model that could be transposed to other parts of the globe.
There is also the possibility of voluntary partnership agreements between countries – for example in the timber field, ensuring that timber is of legal original, and he agreed on the need for early warnings on regulatory developments, although he preferred ‘enhanced dialogue’ to ‘a single clearing house’.
Prakash Shetty, Professor of Medicine, Southampton University, said over the last ten years the contribution of agriculture to world growth had declined, with a real drop in food prices.
Asia has the biggest problems with food security, he said, as in countries such as China, the changes in consumption – from cereals to animal products – have diverted crops for human consumption to animal fodder. The global livestock sector is growing faster than other agricultural sectors, and it now uses 30% of the entire land surface. This is contributing to significant deforestation and land degradation and increasing green house gas emissions.
A recent change in agriculture has been the diversion of food for fuel – for example, in 2007 6.5 billion gallons of corn-ethanol were produced, and 450 million gallons of soybean-based diesel, and in 2008 the EU committed itself to obtaining 10% of transport fuel from renewable sources (i.e. biofuels). He said that the next generation of biofuels will use waste products, and the following generation will use switchgrass, which is not fit for human consumption, so will not use land that could be used for food production.
Discussion
Asked about the role of China in energy security, Mr Hongyi said that while Beijing adopts a ‘real politic’ approach in its energy deals with Russia and Central Asian countries, it is still open to the multilateral approach. In terms of China reducing emissions, more should be done to raise public awareness and to persuade local officials to develop public transport.
Responding to a question on land use for biofuels, Mr Shetty felt a more serious problem was that Middle East countries were buying up land in Africa to produce food, marginalising small landowners in the process.
On the question of whether energy is a priority for ASEM, Mr Dent believed ASEM has a visibility problem and not much clout, as negotiations and discussions on the energy trade take place in the WTO.
Mr Schally felt that the WTO should discuss the relationship between trade and the environment. This had been raised in the WTO in the 1980s, but some countries had been resistant, preferring to do bilateral deals. He mentioned that the EU is hoping to negotiate sustainable development deals with some ASEAN countries.
Asked whether the EU has failed, Mr Young felt that SWITCH was a positive example of Asia and Europe working together, but the EU must ensure that its policies are coherent. Mr Vanden Bilcke did not believe that the EU had failed, as he saw many positive initiatives, such as Agenda 21 and the Montreal Protocol.
