Activities of Catherine GRÈZE related to 2011/2112(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on EU development cooperation in support of the objective of universal energy access by 2030 PDF (197 KB) DOC (116 KB)
Amendments (25)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 a (new)
Citation 7 a (new)
- having regard to the report of the World Commission on Dams: "A new framework for decision-making", 16 November 2000,
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas worldwide about 1.3 billion people – 84 % of whom live in rural areas – have no access to electricity and whereas, furthermore, 2.7 billion people are without clean cooking facilities4 , a situation that creates indoor smoke which is responsible for over 1.4 million premature deaths per year, making it, after HIV/Aids, the second most frequent reason for premature deaths worldwide5; whereas the current lack of access to modern energy services in many poor countries has led to gender inequality and particularly disadvantages women and children,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas access to energy is essential to the realisation of several of the rights contained within the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international human rights and environmental legal instruments,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas renewable energy sources, and especially small decentralised solutions, have huge potential for providing reliable, sustainable and affordable energy services for the poor, particularly in rural areas of developing countries; whereas developing countries are situated in areas with access to abundant renewable energy sources, especially wind and solar; but whereas many challenges remain to ensure their expansion in developing countries, including financing, capacity building, technology transfer and governance reform,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
B b. whereas the use of renewable energy technologies is essential for developing countries to reduce their dependence on fossil fuel imports and related price volatility; but whereas large-scale renewable projects (such as hydro or energy crops) can also have severe social and environmental consequences to local population, i.e. on water or food security; whereas a careful assessment of the environmental impacts of renewable energy technologies is therefore an important prerequisite for donor finance,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
B c. whereas the report of the World Commission on Dams of 16 November 2000 concludes that, while large dams have failed to produce as much electricity, provide as much water, or control as much flood damage as foreseen, they have had huge social and environmental impacts, and efforts to mitigate these impacts have been largely unsuccessful,
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
B d. whereas the expansion of agrofuels has relied overwhelmingly on the expansion of large-scale industrial monoculture, thereby extending agricultural practises that are harmful for the environment, biodiversity, soil fertility and water availability; and whereas, by encouraging concentration of land ownership, the expansion of agrofuels has had dramatic consequences in terms of violation of land rights, loss of access to vital natural resources, deforestation and environmental degradation,
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B e (new)
Recital B e (new)
B e. whereas biomass production for energy purposes can compete with current agricultural (arable and pasture) land; and thereby affecting food availability; and whereas large wood use may contribute to deforestation, degradation of land and even desertification in some regions,
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas in Sub-Sahara Africa, nearly 70% of the total inhabitants do not have access to electricity; and whereas population growth has outpaced electrification and the number of people without access to electricity increased,
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the importance ofat although there is no Millennium Development Goal specifically related to energy, (delete) access to modern, sustainable energy services for all (hereinafter ‘universal energy access’) ais a prerequisite for achieving the MDGs, andbelieves therefore that energy should move to the forefront of the debate on eradication of poverty, while ensuring that increased access to modern energy services is consistent with sustainable development; urges the Commission to issue a communication on development cooperation in support of universal energy access for the year 2012, which has been dedicated to this issue by the UN;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. CUnderlines that maximising the use of renewable energy resources represents the ideal path for the international community to take in achieving universal access to modern energy services, while combating climate change; calls on the Commission to develop an action plan to mainstream the objective of universal energy access into relevant EU policies, as well as into all sectors of development policy, such as agriculture, industry, trade, health and water, and to ensure there is coherence across policies and sectors for the universal energy access objective;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Underlines the importance ofNotes that experiences have shown that centralised power capacity and grid extension targets have often failed to improve energy services for the poor; in particular, underlines that conventional rural electrification programmes financed by the World Bank have globally failed to reach the rural poor; hence, stresses upon the need to support renewable decentralised solutions, such as small- scale, off-grid and mini-grid energy solutions, to reach all parts of developing countries'’ populations, particularly poor and rural populations; calls on the EU to target its efforts, financially and technically, towards these small-scale solutions to energy poverty in remote areas;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Deplores that a large part of international donor funding for energy are directed at fossil fuel-related projects, particularly coal-fired power generation; in particular, notes that fossil fuel lending continues to play a dominant role in the World Bank's overall energy portfolio,as in the case of Export Credit Agencies of EU Member States;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7 b. Notes with concern that large hydropower infrastructure remains a strong focus for the World Bank and the EIB; recalls that experiences have shown that such projects do not necessarily increase access for the poor, but that this aim is better served through mini hydro or micro hydropower units for local demand, thereby avoiding the social and environmental drawbacks of larger projects;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7 c. Reiterates its calls on bilateral aid agencies, multilateral development banks, Export Credit Agencies and the EIB to ensure that any dam option results from an agreed process of ranking of alternatives and respect recommendations of the World Commission on Dams;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 d (new)
Paragraph 7 d (new)
7 d. Stresses that implemented correctly, the use of renewable sources to provide energy services can offer an economic solution in developing countries with benefits to health, the environment and local development; however, stresses upon the need to take into account the environmental impact of the use of renewable energy to improve universal access to energy, especially in the case of hydropower, biomass or agrofuels;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the EU to develop clear guidelines on environmental sustainability criteria for renewable energy projects financing; Calls on the Commission to make the use of decentralised renewable energy or low- carbonsustainable/high energy efficiency a priority condition for support of new energy projects;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Points out that the development of clean technologies in poor countries is linked i.e. to technology transfer, which implies to identify the salient barriers to the dissemination of green technologies in developing countries and to consider new flexibilities in terms of intellectual property rights, especially within the ambit of TRIPS;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Encourages the Commission and the Member States to support, through development cooperation, the transfer of technologies, including technical knowledge, training programs, information, and good practices, appropriate for the delivery of modern energy services to poor people, between partner countries in the South and between Europe and the South, as well as the development of capacity in partner countries to assess and absorb technological options;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. CUnderlines that effective partnerships between the public sector, the private sector, communities and local governments will be necessary to expand access to sustainable energy services; calls on the Commission to use, wherever possible, a market approach to new/innovative energy solutions, for example by fostering local production, facilitating their introduction onto the market or providing market information, in order to ensure local ownership and sustainability; in particular, calls on the Commission to promote governance capacity building to enable replicability of small scall energy service projects through promotion of SMEs;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recognises the importance of private investors and market-oriented reforms in the energy sector; underlines, however,at the public sector alone will not be able to provide all the financing needs required to expand energy access; points out, in this respect, the importance of private investors and market-oriented reforms in the energy sector; underlines, however, that increasing focus on the use of public- private partnerships and attracting funds from private financiers may adversely diminish the financial attractiveness of local renewable energy projects, since such projects are less "bankable" than major, grid-connected projects, which often serve large industries; therefore, underlines that the ultimate responsibility for ensuring access to universal services, especially affordable energy for poor and remote populations, remains that of the state;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 – indent 5
Paragraph 14 – indent 5
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Notes with concern that the Africa- EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) and its sub-programme for renewable energy seems primarily to focus on large projects and interconnectors with less emphasis to local energy solutions; urges the EU to refrain from developing a top-down approach on developing energy infrastructure, bearing in mind that large scale infrastructures may not suit the economic an social structure of the country and fail to provide energy access to the poor, for whom smaller local energy sources are usually be more appropriate;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Points out that current GHG emissions of the poorest countries, notably in Sub-Sahara and in rural areas of many developing countries, are negligible due to the low levels of industrialisation; Urges the Commission and the Member States to recognise that energy consumption by the poor in developing countries does not, and for the foreseeable future will not, contribute significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions (1.3 % of global emission by 2030, according to the IEA),; points out that the rise of per capita level of CO2 emissions would still remain at low levels compared to those in high-income countries and that in order to achieve a minimum acceptable standard of living their per capita consumption of modern energy services should increase without being constrained by climate change mitigation measures;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. CTakes the view that the Rio+20 summit in June 2012 is an opportunity to propose concrete targets on how to abolish energy poverty and a roadmap on how to achieve them as a global strategy for greening the economy; calls on the Commission and the Member States to include universal energy access in the Rio+20 process;