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International Clean Energy Initiatives
Keeping Private Sector “Plugged in” to a Transition to a new White House The International Clean Energy Alliance, ICE Alliance, is a coalition of clean energy technology and service providers, key trade associations, project developers, investors, and others concerned about the international deployment of clean energy projects. As a 501c6, the Alliance membership brings together a unique combination of industry deployment and export expertise critical to the transition from the Bush Administration to a new presidential administration. ICE Alliance brings together Washington and industry representatives who are experts in this area and will help to guide a comprehensive approach to encouraging global clean energy deployment during the transition. In the international investment and policy arena, clean energy and climate issues will take center stage as the global financial economy takes on the challenge of a post Kyoto investment climate that sends the right markets signals and encourages healthy sustainable energy expansion and growth. ICE Alliance will provide key policymakers and programs expertise and access to industry leaders and ideas designed to address the problems of rising greenhouse gases, trade and investment barriers to clean energy deployment. Outreach The ICE Alliance will hold regular meetings with the White House, key federal agencies and the Hill to help coordinate and communicate private sector input to transition strategies. ICE Alliance will take on the work of briefing newcomers to these key programs through private sector roundtables and Hill events and briefings. The Alliance offers its members access to representatives in the clean energy and investment area and offers members a role in drafting and providing input to key programs and initiatives. The Need for Better Coordination and Program Goals The International Energy Agency estimates that meeting G8 greenhouse gas reduction goals will require investment of between $17 and $45 trillion by 2050. The ICE Alliance believes that clean energy export programs including “Deployment of International Clean & Efficient Energy Technologies and Investment in Global Energy Markets” and the “International Clean Energy Foundation” established in the Energy Independence and Security Act 2007 should be included, along with investment funds, in an overall U.S. strategy. Together, these programs can position U.S. companies to provide services and manufactured goods for international cleaner energy projects. These programs can create an unprecedented export potential, creating U.S. jobs, a cleaner and more efficient array of energy options for our own domestic energy future, and an opportunity to expand and retain workforce in this critical growth industry. The ICE Alliance believes that clean energy investment funds and initiatives can effectively address the problem of rising greenhouse gas emissions in the developing world by subsidizing the price differential between new, cleaner, but more expensive, forms of energy generation and traditional, higher polluting forms that can be deployed at lower cost. We believe that programs must maintain a policy of strict technology neutrality. Funding must go to those projects that promise the greatest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to project cost, and should not favor one technology over another. Recommendations and goals for these programs include 1) broad U.S. engagement to provide assistance to help developing nations establish public policies to incentivize cleaner energy technologies; 2) U.S. participation in multilateral funds or other mechanisms to provide direct financial support to offset the higher costs for cleaner energy technology; 3) continued protection of intellectual property rights as necessary to advance the development of technology; 4) elimination of trade barriers, including tariffs, to cleaner energy technologies; and 5) coordinated promotion of cleaner energy exports. Action in each of these areas will support the partnership between government and industry that is essential to solve the global climate challenge. These recommendations were also made by GE, one of the ICE Alliance’s founding members, at a Senate hearing on Natural Resources June 25th. Asia-Pacific Partnership The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP) is a public-private partnership that brings together the governments, both regional and municipal, and private sectors of Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea, and the United States in order to facilitate investments in clean technologies, goods, and services; accelerate the sharing of energy-efficient best practices; and identify policy barriers to the diffusion of clean energy technologies. To date, the U.S. has contributed over $70 million to the APP. The APP held its inaugural breakfast and briefing on July 17, 2008, at the Ronald Regan Building. More than 100 attendees from media, industry, and government were present. This was the first of a series of bi-monthly breakfast briefings on APP's program, activities, and results. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky gave an overview of U.S. involvement in the APP and its integral place within U.S. climate strategy. Dave Bohigian, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, described the way his agency has been supporting the APP. A panel of representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Commerce (DOC), Portland Cement Association, and the World Resources Institute (WRI) discussed their joint efforts with the APP and highlighted project achievements, as well as the APP's ability to mobilize public and private efforts to combat climate change. There are discussions underway to include a nuclear task force under the APP structure. Member representatives from the ICE Alliance are working with some of the APP task forces including the renewable energy task force, and we look forward to discussions with U.S. government representatives on developing the nuclear task force. For more information, please visit the following websites: http://www.asiapacificpartnership.org/ http://www.app.gov/index.htm Clean Technology Fund The Clean Technology Fund is a new multilateral effort (mainly the Group of Eight countries and the World Bank) led by the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan. It strives to reduce the growth of carbon emissions in the developing world by providing financial assistance to cover the cost differential of clean energy technologies over other traditional technologies. This, in turn, will accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies. The World Bank, which will administer the CTF, officially approved the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) ⎯ the CTF and the Strategic Climate Fund⎯ on July 1, 2008. (The Strategic Climate Fund is broader in scope; it is aimed at increasing climate resilience in developing countries.) The CIFs are designed to complement existing international efforts until a new framework under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) comes into effect. Assistance through the CIFs comes in the form of grants, loans, and/or risk mitigation instruments. The CTF is expected to be fully operational by the fourth quarter of the present year. An annual Partnership Forum will be held to provide a venue for discussion on the strategic directions and an assessment of the results and impacts of the CIFs. The first meeting is scheduled to take place in September 2008. On July 17, 2008, the "International Clean Development Technology Fund Act of 2008" was introduced by Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in an effort to provide a framework for the administration of funds committed to the CTF. The Act purposefully structures the fund to encourage optimal deployment of clean energy technologies and sets eligibility criteria for countries and participating entities. Among the more significant conditions is that participating entities must be capable of producing "measurable, reportable, and verifiable greenhouse gas emissions mitigations." Implementation of International Clean Energy Exports Initiative The Energy Independence and Security Act 2007 created a several programs aimed at facilitating the deployment of clean energy technologies in world markets. Two of those provisions, Section 916 authorizing the "Deployment of International Clean & Efficient Energy Technologies and Investment in Global Energy Markets" and the formation of the International Clean Energy Foundation are important instruments in achieving ICE Alliance goals. In the FY 2001 Report of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on the Energy and Water Development Bill called for the formation of the Clean Energy Technology Export (CETE) initiative. The purpose was to achieve deployment of clean energy goods and services. CETE was initially spearheaded by the DOE. Since then, its aim has been to facilitate the deployment of clean energy technologies abroad. Its line of action can be divided into three categories: (1) facilitating the context for collaboration efforts to take place (2) assisting in the creation of receptive investment frameworks in host countries (3) enhancing U.S. energy sector competitiveness abroad. CETE hopes to play a main role in reducing demand for fossil fuels in developing countries by making alternative, cleaner technologies available to them. Other Important Developments Pertaining to Clean Energy G8 Summit and MEM Leaders Meeting During the recent Major Economies Meeting (MEM), the Group of Eight expressed their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The commitment calls for increased efforts to invest in clean technologies and facilitate their deployment abroad, focusing on countries unable to afford it through the CTF. The World Bank's CIFs received broad support throughout the meeting. The Declaration of Environment and Climate Change particularly expresses strong support for "the launching of 20 large-scale CCs demonstration projects globally by 2010, taking into account various national circumstances, with a view to beginning broad deployment of CCs by 2020." The G8 also pledged $10 billion a year over the next several years to fund R&D. Further, G8 members agreed to put the necessary policies in place to facilitate the commercialization and deployment of these technologies. Ultimately, some of the above commitments will be shaped by the results of 2009 the UNFCCC meeting in Copenhagen, which is expected to result in a framework replacing the Kyoto Protocol. |