CTI Industry Joint Seminar: Diffusion of climate-friendly technologies in Asian countries
CTI Industry Joint Seminar: Diffusion of climate-friendly technologies in Asian countries
In cooperation with Bureau of International Cooperation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
and International Center for Environmental Technology Transfer(ICETT)
21-22 February 2008, Beijing, P. R. China
[Summary]
The Climate Technology Initiative (CTI) Industry Joint Seminar: Diffusion of Energy-Efficient and Renewable Energy Technologies in Asian Countries was held in Beijing, P. R. China on 21-22 February 2008 organized in cooperation with Bureau of International Cooperation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and International Center for Environmental Technology Transfer (ICETT). This seminar brought together project developers, technology providers, finance providers, and policy makers to facilitate development of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Asian countries.
The seminar focused on the technical and financial aspects of project development to realize the full potential of existing technologies and financing opportunities. To this end, the seminar introduced successful projects and potential projects proposals developed in the region to project developers, technology providers and finance providers from abroad as well as the target region. Policy makers were also invited to participate in the seminar to be informed of effective policy options to facilitate the transfer of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Key themes over the two-day workshop are summarized below.
The first day of the seminar focused on specific project examples and opportunities in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors including presentations on energy efficiency activities in the electricity and steel sectors, a web based tool for comprehensive life cycle assessment of targeted industries, and successful project examples from Asia in the biomass, biogas, and wind sectors. Each of the presentations was followed by questions and dialogue with many of the questions focusing on the practical issues faced in implementing these technologies, opportunities for either scaling up specific projects or applying these technology solutions to smaller scale applications. Discussion and panel comments addressed common themes presented over the first day. Key points included the value of emphasizing low cost and no cost opportunities first, particularly in the energy efficiency sector, and the need to raise awareness of these opportunities in both the policy and finance communities. Effective and sustained policy measures were also identified as critical in both the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors to help promote project development including fair access to the grid, appropriate tax incentives, loan guarantees, and targeted capacity building. Participants also emphasized the value of focusing on the small and medium sized enterprise sector where public/private collaboration can often have the greatest value added in making viable projects succeed.
The seminar's second day focused on the opportunities for, and barriers to, the financing of clean energy projects in Asia. Presentations included an overview by the UNFCCC Secretariat of the "Practitioner's Guidebook for Preparing Technology Transfer Projects for Financing" which is a useful tool for project developers when preparing project financing proposals. The CTI also introduced its Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN) programme that provides coaching and technical assistance to project developers and other project proponents in developing countries and countries with economies in transition to assist them in the preparation of project financing proposals meeting the standards of the international financing community. Presentations were also provided by representatives of the project financing community including the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), ReExCapital Asia, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the China Development Bank, and Mitsubishi UFJ Securities on innovative financing mechanisms and approaches for clean energy projects. Targeted public sector initiatives were also introduced by representatives from the Asia Pacific Partnership and the US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Development Credit Authority (DCA) that focus on accelerating clean energy markets and information sharing. Questions and participant dialogue focused on details of these various initiatives and how the various financing schemes potentially complement one another and how they can expanded to create new financing opportunities, particularly for small and medium sized projects.
The summary panel focused on how public-private partnerships can accelerate clean energy markets in the region and the most important roles that both private equity and international financial institutions can help in supporting these efforts. Panelists emphasized that clean energy technology transfer is indeed happening in Asia and globally, but accelerating and growing these markets to meet our common environmental, economic development, and energy security objectives remains a key challenge. Enabling policy environments are critical elements to these markets as well as awareness of financing opportunities, technology options and trade-offs, and the true cost and benefits of energy choices including environmental impacts, contribution to economic development and job creation, and energy security. As these markets grow, they will continue to face challenges to implementation including availability of feedstocks for biomass based power and fuels and competition for technical expertise as well as capital. Increased communication across the relevant communities addressing energy and environmental issues will be fundamental to achieving success and greater emphasis needs to be placed on building the capacity of the next generation of engineering and policy experts in these fields.
[Summary/Outcomes]
[Programme]
[IISD summary report]
[Link to IISD webpage for this seminar]
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