Ited Nations News Centre - UN urges achieving sustainable energy for all as International Year kicks off. 16 January 2012 – As the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All kicked off today, United Nations officials called on governments, the private sector and civil society to help expand energy access, improve efficiency and increase the use of renewables. Globally, one person in five still lacks access to modern electricity and twice that number – three billion people – rely on wood, coal, charcoal, or animal waste for cooking and heating.
“We are here to build a new energy future… a future that harnesses the power of technology and innovation in the service of people and the planet,” Mr. Ban said in remarks to the opening of the World Future Energy Summit, which is taking place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Sustainable energy for all is within our reach.
“Sustainable energy for all is within our reach,” he told the summit, which also serves as the global launch of 2012 as the International Year. Mr. Mr. “Our goal,” Mr. Defined by Oil and Gas, UAE Invests in a Global Diversified Energy Future. The United Arab Emirates is one of the world’s richest countries, blessed with extraordinary access to the kind of fossil fuels that the globe depends on. The rush to develop the oceans of oil and gas this smallish desert country sits on has transformed it from an isolated sultanate to a major player in an increasingly integrated world on the hunt for greater and more reliable access to energy.
The challenges of sudden wealth and success are not to be dismissed, and UAE officialdom is working to find ways to leverage its comparatively recent role as one of the planet’s economic leaders into longer-term leadership. The country has sought to invest more and more abroad, with many of its investments focused on the energy sector, a natural focus for a country where the wealth flows from the world’s hunger for energy commodities. Breaking Energy conducted an interview with Dr. Q: The UAE sits in the middle of a region famous for its huge fossil fuel resources. Absolutely. Second Fattest Nation to Host 2016 World Road Cycling Championship. Even though Qatar is the world’s second fattest nation, it will host four international sporting events in the next decade, including the 2016 World Road Cycling Championship and the 2022 World Cup. With Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the helm, Qatar’s bid committee spent years fighting to host this prestigious cycling event for two reasons: first, Al Thani thinks the presence of ultra lean athletes from other countries will convince Qatari nationals that physical fitness is more fun than shisha and McDonalds, and second, the State wants to send the message that bicycles are better for the environment than cars.
In addition to the UCI Road World Cycling Championship in 2016, the Gulf nation with one of the highest carbon footprints and percentage of fat people will host the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championship, the IHF World Handball Championship (for men only) in 2015, and then the much-discussed FIFA World Cup in 2022. :: The Peninsula Qatar. World’s Top Environmental Success Stories: Don't Despair. It's no wonder so many environmentalists sound like downers. Forests are being wiped out at the rate of one Costa Rica-size parcel a year. Cities such as Beijing and New Delhi choke on smog. Global temperatures and tides continue an unrelenting climb. Don't despair! Forty years after the environmental movement peaked, the world has some historic success stories that reduce pollution and save lives every day. This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, a model international agreement that reduced pollution-inflicted damage to the Earth's protective ozone layer.
Environmental issues follow certain patterns -- the questioning of science, the questioning of proposed solutions and sometimes, the quiet disappearance of the problem when collective action works. Click through to see 13 of the world's top environmental success stories. Read more energy & sustainability news. Emissions. If there has been one non-living subject that has been taboo in the Gulf monarchies then it is the domestic pricing of natural resources. For years international economists and monetary agencies have prescribed cuts to fuel and utility consumer subsidies as a way out of the Gulf Cooperation Council states’ growing energy demand. Until mid-October however, the “s-word” had only been uttered behind the closed doors of ministries and government agencies grown increasingly worried about domestic energy security and the cost of maintaining it. A surprise public statement from Dubai’s ENOC (Emirates National Oil Company) last Saturday (16 Oct) broke the silence by implying high subsidies had driven it to the verge of bankruptcy.
The exceptional announcement, accompanied by read-between-the-lines messages typical of states not known for their transparency, precipitated a wave of media articles and tweets. Researcher: Arabian Gulf, Coasts Facing Serious Environmental Pressures as Construction, Dredging, Reclamation Take Toll. Researcher: Arabian Gulf, Coasts Facing Serious Environmental Pressures as Construction, Dredging, Reclamation Take Toll DOHA, Qatar -- The Arabian Gulf and the coasts surrounding various Gulf countries are undergoing tremendous pressure due to massive construction activities, says a researcher. With massive dredging and reclamation activities becoming common, the sea and its shores are facing serious environmental challenges, researcher Fahad Al Jamali. was quoted in a report in The Peninsula.
The University of Wales, UK, has awarded a doctorate to the research work by Al Jamali, the report added. The threat posed by the real estate boom is in addition to the pressures resulting from oil spills, contamination from industrial sources and municipal releases, global warming, desalination and power plant discharges into the sea, said the recent research work by a Qatari national. 'Gulf countries have already developed 40 per cent of the coastal line. AFED home page. Center for International and Regional Studies - Mari Luomi Lectures on Unsustainability in Qatar and the GCC. Mari Luomi Mari Luomi, one of the 2011-2012 CIRS Post-Doctoral Fellows, gave the inaugural CIRS Monthly Dialogue lecture of the Fall 2011 semester. She lectured on the topic of “Natural Resources and Environmental Unsustainability in Qatar and the GCC” to an audience of academics, students, ambassadors, and interested members of the general public.
Luomi introduced the topic by noting that her research was geared towards suggesting a new conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between sustainability, political economy, and development in the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). She defined the term “sustainability,” as “the use of natural resources in a way that allows for welfare for humans and the environment, presently and in the future.” Outlining the main argument, Luomi said that “the Gulf monarchies’ dependence on fossil fuels, on fossil fuel revenues, and on social contracts based on these revenues produces unsustainability.”
GULF Research Center > eLibrary > Gulf States can be Leaders in Combating Climate Change. The global consensus on the need to agree on an ambitious global climate treaty is growing fast. Still, most of the Opec member states continue to abide by anachronistic ways of thinking and argument regarding the international climate regime. The smaller Gulf fossil fuel exporters should be encouraged to push for a change to the monolithic Opec position. This could bring benefits for the entire Middle East, including the Gulf states themselves. The Opec position in the international climate regime under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has before been driven by Saudi Arabia.
This position in the international climate talks is both inflexible and inconsiderate of poorer countries in real need of adaptation assistance. With the increasing attention given to climate change on the agendas of many Middle Eastern states, including oil exporters, the interests within Opec are now more diverse than ever. Qatar is a less quoted example.