Promising impatience among world leaders

There is a growing impatience among world leaders that existing structures and institutions are not responding to the climate issues as they should. Only this week, the Danish minister for transport and energy, Fleming Hansen, called for a more effective IEA to deal with a comprehensive analysis as a foundation for implementation of measures. He mentioned the World Energy Outlook, but the Energy Technology Perspectives is probably more to the point.

At the same time, the EU energy commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, called for an International Agreement on Energy Efficiency, but was rather vague on what such an agreement could accomplish. He asked for an "executive body charged with studies and monitoring of its implementation" and also pointed to the IEA as a resource.

All this is good, but is it good enough? What we really need is such co-operation that results in real dissemination of good and of improved technologies, not the least (or especially) for energy efficiency that is inherently cost-effective! The IEA holds resources in its Technology Agreements that could play a bigger role for global technology development and deployment.

There is yet another piece of evidence on this political impatience in the form of the EU reaction to the UN-CSD not succeeding in any strong commitments to action. This reaction is a joint statement by the German minister, Sigmar Gabriel, and the commissioner, Stavros Dimas. No doubt this is also part of a negotiations attitude to force certain countries further, but it seems heart-felt.

From words to deeds

So, if we try to read the writing on the wall, is it not a healthy sign? Important leaders say that they have all the evidence they need, but they now want to see real action! They also think the existing institutions must adapt themselves better for action if they want to be of real use.

What they are asking for might, however, be there already. There are new institutions designed for business action and to construct the missing link that transforms information to knowledge, that shift government wishes to action on the ground. One of them could be REEEP. They are constructed for sustainability by their combined focus on energy efficiency and renewable fuels, and by targeting the full business environment with regulation, financing and business concept development.