The Communiqué that was adopted by the Energy Ministers on Friday 8 April 2011 paved the way forward to a balanced approach to both energy efficiency and renewable energy.
During the Energy Ministerial Meeting on Wednesday afternoon, after the REEEP workshop on “Energy Efficiency: Standards and Labelling Programmes for the PICs”, the significance of energy efficiency was clearly communicated by several country representatives who stated the opportunities in end-use energy efficiency and especially with an appliance Standards & Labelling (S&L) scheme in place.
Hence, the importance of energy efficiency was prominently stated in the Communiqué and a reference was made to an S&L scheme.
Specific mentions in the Communiqué to note are:
- Implementation Plan for Energy Security in the Pacific (IPESP) critical activities, e.g. energy efficiency and conservation, should be prioritised, within available resources, for early implementation to ensure gains can be achieved and practical benefits demonstrated;
- The meeting also agreed that a simultaneous approach may be adopted by members to increase their engagement in setting time-bound renewable energy targets and also implementing energy efficiency measures, including adoption and implementation of existing standards for energy efficiency labelling;
- Enhancing partnerships and sharing of best practices through (…) the sharing of information by the Republic of Fiji on its energy efficiency programmes with other PICTs; and the sharing of information on other initiatives such as the solar credit scheme in Australia.
The inaugural joint meeting of Pacific Ministers for Energy, ICT and Transport was held at the Conference Centre at SPC headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia, from 4 to 8 April 2011. It was attended by Ministers and/or Secretaries, Directors and senior officials from the ministries/departments of Energy, ICT and Transport of American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, France, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna. Also attending the inaugural meeting were representatives from CROP (Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific) Organisations and a range of development partners that are active in the Pacific region, amongst which the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), Sustainable Energy Industry Association for the Pacific Islands (SEIAPI) which was set up by REEEP.
The Communiqué of the Inaugural Joint Meeting of Pacific Ministers for Energy, ICT and Transport can be downloaded from the REEEP website.
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Eva Oberender & Maaike Gobel
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