Annex A
Letter from Dr Brian Count, Chairman,
UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy the Prime Minister,
Rt Hon Tony Blair MP
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY PRIORITIES AT WSSD
I write on behalf of not only my company, Innogy
Plc, but also BP plc, Powergen UK plc, Shell UK Ltd, Scottish
Power plc, United Utilities plc and Lattice plc. We are all founding
members of the UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy (UKBCSE)
that was established in 2001 to promote the expansion of the sustainable
energy sector.
We appreciate the strong endorsement you gave
to the creation of the Council at last year's G8 Summit in Genoa
when world leaders welcomed your support for its recommendations,
which provide a useful international framework and look forward
to its implementation, particularly in the UK.
We believe it is important in the days leading
up to the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) to convey
our support for the priority being given by the United Kingdom
and the UN General Secretary, Kofi Annan, to sustainable energy.
As members of the UKBCSE we are committed to
supporting your focus on the provision of affordable, accessible,
sustainable energy at the WSSD. We believe there needs to be action
that achieves:
— an overall and firm international
target for sustainable energy implementation that can build confidence
for business to invest;
— modernisation of the lending policies
of export credit agencies, such as ECGD, to reflect and build
on international goals for sustainable energy;
— the removal of market distorting
subsidies to non-sustainable energy sources, in a clearly timed
and appropriate way, consistent with stimulating a new generation
of knowledge driven sustainable energy businesses. This should
occur in the context of a supportive reinforcing policy framework
for sustainable development at both national and international
level; and
— taking forward other appropriate
market development strategies for expanding the use of sustainable
energy internationally, including the development of innovative
financing tools that recognise the smaller, more diverse nature
of these technologies.
In the communication from the Heads of State
of Brazil, Henrique Cardoso, and South Africa, Thabo Mbeki and
the Prime Minister of Sweden, Goran Persson, to the recent G8
meeting you attended it was stated that:
"We trust that concrete action marked by
targets and timetables can be agreed in Johannesburg in areas
such as renewable energy, water and sanitation, health, agriculture,
natural resources and education."
This is a sentiment we support.
To be credible we also believe the commitments
that emerge from WSSD must not only address pressing global issues
but also set the context for the UK energy policy agenda that
will follow the Summit. In any political declaration you make
at WSSD we therefore hope you will commit the UK to:
— deliver on its existing targets for
sustainable energy which cover fuel poverty, renewable energy
and combined heat and power;
— tackling domestic barriers to the
wider use of sustainable energy technologies and related energy
services which would open the way to further strengthening domestic
targets;
— reviewing the operation of UK export
credit agencies in order to ensure their activities are consistent
with the Government's domestic targets and policies for sustainable
energy; and
— setting the UK on the path to a low
emission, sustainable energy economy beyond 2010, primarily through
the use of a mix of market based mechanisms that reflect the economic
impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the environment.
We urge you to use your attendance at the WSSD
to advance the use of sustainable energy both globally and in
the UK. Each gives credibility to the other.
I am copying this letter to John Prescott, Jack
Straw, Margaret Beckett and Patricia Hewitt.
We look forward to working with the government
on implementing this agenda.
15 August 2002
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