-- Energy Ministers Announce "CEM 2.0," New Global Initiatives,
the United States as the Next CEM
Host, and China as CEM8 Host
MERIDA, Mexico, May 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- At the sixth
Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM6), Mexico Secretary of Energy Pedro Joaquin Coldwell, U.S. Secretary of Energy
Ernest Moniz, China Minister of Science and Technology
Wan Gang and other world energy
leaders announced ambitious actions to accelerate the global
transition to clean energy. These actions include global efforts
addressing three critical technology and policy challenges:
efficient lighting, low-carbon power systems, and the availability
of information about policies for low-carbon development. Finally,
to conclude CEM6, President Barack
Obama announced in a video message that the United States will host CEM7 in 2016,
which was followed by the announcement by China's Minister
Wan Gang that China intends to host
CEM8 in 2017.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150528/219204
"CEM 2.0" and the CEM Steering Committee
At CEM6, ministers agreed to launch an enhanced, second phase of
work under CEM, referred to as "CEM 2.0." Ministers created a new
CEM Steering Committee that will provide leadership and strategic
guidance year-round to prioritize efforts in areas of greatest
potential impact. The inaugural members of the Steering Committee
include China, Denmark, the
European Commission, France,
India, Mexico, the United
Arab Emirates, and the United States.
Ministers also launched three critical efforts to drive action
in the clean energy space:
The CEM Global Lighting Challenge was launched by Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South
Africa, Sweden,
the United States, and the
Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission to
establish a global race to reach cumulative sales of 10 billion
high-efficiency, high-quality and affordable advanced lighting
products as quickly as possible. With lighting accounting for 15
percent of global electricity usage, replacing the world's existing
lighting with these products could save over $100 billion in electricity costs alone and lower
annual CO2 emissions by 534 million metric tons.
Under the CEM Power System Challenge, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, South
Africa, Sweden, the
United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the Directorate-General
for Energy of the European Commission endorsed a set of principles
to help guide their country's efforts toward the clean, reliable,
resilient and affordable power systems of the future. Participating
countries agreed to facilitate the development of national roadmaps
and strategies to increase energy efficiency while also taking
advantage of smart grid technologies and renewable resources such
as wind and solar power. The United Nations Environment Programme
also stated support, noting the Challenge will provide critical
market pull and awareness-raising.
Ministers also announced efforts to dramatically scale up the
Clean Energy Solutions Center, a CEM initiative that has already
provided real-time, no-cost clean energy expert policy assistance
to more than 80 countries around the world. The scale-up initiative
includes increasing the amount of global experts to help respond to
significantly more requests for assistance as well as establishing
a new section on Clean Energy Finance. Both Australia and the
United States announced additional funding support.
India, Italy, and Indonesia announced the provision of
additional experts, and Canada
announced additional experts and tools to the Solutions Center.
CEM6 host Joaquin Coldwell said,
"It is up to us that renewable energies become a synonym of
equality, and a powerful force to build a cleaner, fairer and
sustainable world."
"This year's Clean Energy Ministerial was particularly important
as we worked to scale up global challenges and establish a vision
for 'CEM 2.0' to play a fundamental role in helping our world
transition to a clean energy economy," said Secretary Moniz. "Since
clean energy is key to combating climate change, the Ministerial
was an important stop on the road to the 2015 Paris climate
negotiations. We look forward to seeing a lot of the progress going
into CEM7, which will be hosted in the
United States."
"The transformation to clean energy economy calls for unswerving
political will, clearly defined national targets and enhanced
international collaboration," said China Minister Wan Gang.
At CEM6, the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia officially became a member of the CEM, bringing the
total members to 23 countries and the European Commission. Together
they are responsible for about 80 percent of global greenhouse gas
emissions and 90 percent of clean energy investment. Through its
ongoing initiatives and the new actions announced at CEM6, all
focused on implementing ambitious actions and policies, the CEM
plays a unique role in the international climate and clean energy
space by helping countries meet their climate and clean energy
goals and creating space for greater ambition.
Information on the Clean Energy Ministerial is also available
at: www.cleanenergyministerial.org. For additional information,
email CEMSecretariat@hq.doe.gov.