Khristenko calls for G8 action on energy

“Energy is the source of life on earth. New energy technologies are a condition of economic growth and sustainable development. Energy should be the source of cooperation among nations and not an excuse for conflict. ”, he said.

Speaking ahead of the Group of 8 nations summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, next week, Minister Khristenko said “we owe it to future generations to develop alternative and renewable energy sources”. He identified three global energy problems which need to be solved by the international community, and called on next week’s G8 Summit to address them:

• Energy poverty: there is a tremendous gap between those who have energy and those who don’t. The problem is especially acute in Africa, where lack of energy hinders the growth of industry and trade, prevents people from taking advantage of information technologies, and limits the spread of knowledge. Germany has named Africa as one of its priorities for their Presidency of the G8. But the development of the continent is impossible without solving energy poverty. “For many of those living in Africa the issue of access to energy is without exaggeration a life or death issue.”
• Underdevelopment of new and ecologically-friendly energy technologies: the past 20 years have seen major breakthroughs in areas such as hydrogen energy, atomic energy, solar energy and pure coal technologies. But this process should continue. An international fund of future energy technologies should be created to enable easy access and to encourage energy efficiency.
• Sharing of energy best-practice: the development of new technologies is wasted if they are not known and implemented throughout the world, in homes, offices, cities and villages, especially in developing countries. To solve this, a system providing conditions to exchange knowledge and best practice should be created. The development of an international
  classification system and power supply quality standards will help as well.

Together with UNESCO, Russia is creating a “Sustainable Energy Development Center” which will become an important source of expert evaluation. The institution of a "Global Energy" award that was first presented in 2007 to Dr. Torstein Ingi Sigfusson along with the 2nd International Energy week which is to be held in Moscow October, 2007 do provide possibilities to bring forward the discussed issues.

Minister Khristenko said Russia is meeting its obligations on energy undertaken at the G8 Summit in St Petersburg last year. He said that Russia inherited from the Soviet Union energy infrastructure which needs vast improvement, to make it more effective and environmentally friendly. However he said that “Russia has the educational, scientific and creative potential to make good use of energy in creating a competitive economy and in order to help the developing world”.