REGIONAL ENERGY OFFICIALS TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE

Training workshop offered by ADB, UN ESCAP to focus on renewal energy,
energy efficiency and greenhouse gas abatement

United Nations Information Services (Bangkok) - Senior energy officials from the Asia-Pacific region will address climate change issues at a training workshop on renewable energy, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas abatement offered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) from 22-26 July 2002 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.

Some 50 national coordinators for climate change, senior officials from renewable energy and energy efficiency agencies as well as climate change experts are expected to attend the five-day meeting. The 15 participating countries include Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Viet Nam.

"Keeping the Earth hospitable to civilization requires dramatic cuts in fossil fuel combustion and a worldwide transition to clean energy," said Mr. Kim Hak-Su, UN ESCAP's Executive Secretary. "Without making energy production and consumption work for common goals, we can but dream of sustainable development."

Greenhouse gas emissions are closely linked to the core sustainable development issues on the agenda of the Johannesburg Summit 2002 to be held in South Africa next month. According to the United Nations, carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels accounts for 75 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Twenty percent of existing world demand for oil and gas is now in Asia, with more than 50 per cent of the growth in demand each year coming from the region.

The training workshop is part of a regional project for the Promotion of Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Abatement (PREGA) launched in April 2001 in Manila, Philippines. The three-year PREGA project, co-financed by the Netherlands and ADB on a grant basis, promotes investments in technologies that will increase the poor's access to energy services as well as help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The workshop will also provide a forum for the participants to meet and share their experience on climate change and energy-related issues.

For further information on the workshop, please contact:
Mr. Pranesh C. Saha, Chief, Energy Resources Section, UN ESCAP
Tel: (662) 288-1546; Fax: (662) 288-1059; E-mail: saha.unescap@un.org

For inquiries from the media, please contact:
Ms. Margaret Hanley, Information Officer, United Nations Information Services
Tel: (662) 288-1862-69; Fax: (662) 288-1052; E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org

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