June 17, 2009

Remarks by Ambassador Kristie Kenney
at the Asia Clean Energy Forum 2009
Asia Development Bank Headquarters, Manila
June 17, 2009

Good afternoon everyone. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Sir Roy Bunker, it’s a pleasure to share the stage with you and it’s a pleasure to see so many people here today for what has become a very important annual event in the field of clean energy. This year’s clean forum energy in Asia is taking place at a time of many changes. I’d like to highlight three of those changes that occurred since we met here a year ago.

A year ago oil prices were sky high and the drive to commit to clean energy was also taking on a new urgency. Not long after this forum ended a year ago, the global financial crisis-- still ongoing in many places—began and the price of oil went downward. A year ago, the private sector provided most of the financing for clean energy projects. While private sector financing has remained stable, even in the face of a global economic crisis today, governments are stepping up to provide important investments. At this point, governments around the world have committed to investing more than 430 billion dollars, making clean energy a part of their economic stimulus packages, investing in clean energy, sustainable transport, and green buildings. Finally, as many of you know, there was election in the United States since we last met here. President Obama has made clean energy a hallmark and a centerpiece of his plans as well as addressing the global climate change and a speedy global economic recovery.

I thought I would talk briefly to you, about what the United States is doing in this field. First, within the United States, and then take you a bit more globally with the focus, of course, on the reason we are here today which is Asia. In the United States, government resources are now focused on unleashing a new clean energy economy. As a part of our recently announced stimulus package, we will be investing a hundred and fifty billion dollars in clean and renewable energies such as wind, solar, geothermal.

In the short term, the United States, like many Asian nations, will be finding ways to save energy and use this as a method to also weather the global economic crisis. We’ll be saving energy using the kind of strategies and technologies you’re talking about during this forum. We’re looking at ways to increase energy efficiency, modernize buildings, increase the standards of heating and cooling, upgrade appliances, and although these measures alone will not be the answer, through them, we stand to save a lot of energy --the equivalent of that which is produced in two years from coal-fired plants in the United States.

In the medium term, we are introducing incentives to double the production of renewable energy, investing heavily to make our electricity grid more efficient, and we’re offering good incentives to make fuel efficient vehicles and develop advance bio-fuels as we transition more and more to important clean energy resources.

Over the longer term, we are committed to developing a clean energy economy that is less dependent on non-renewable energy sources. Even now the U.S. congress is working on legislation to create a new, even cleaner energy economy and we’re confident that this new, clean energy economy will create millions of new jobs.

Looking beyond our borders to the international arena, we understand, and our president has clearly stated, that clean energy is a priority and a reality in addressing climate change and enhancing energy security. Because these challenges are global, addressing them requires a global coalition, a coalition that goes beyond government s into the private sector and NGOs. It is a coalition that requires efforts from each and every one of us and the institutions we represent.

Starting in October, the United States government will provide hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign assistance for climate change efforts around the world. We want to promote the adoption of clean energy technology, help nations adapt to climate change and encourage sustainable land and water use. In Asia, the U.S. government, through the United States Agency for International Development, already has environmental programs underway in more than a half a dozen countries. These are programs, which many of us from the Philippines are familiar, that create clean energy, mitigate climate change, save energy, conserve biodiversity and promote the sustainable use of land and water resources. In China, Indonesia and the Philippines, we are working with new partners to support the efforts that the private financing advisory network. This project links clean energy prospects with investors to help catalyze the financing that will transform ideas into realities. In its first nine months, this network has identified energy projects in Asia that hold the potential to reduce 13 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. And that’s just the beginning. We recently commissioned a biofuels study for Asia and those findings will we presented for the first time to this very forum on Thursday. The study is an objective analysis, a new direction, a new way forward and a way to sustainably develop small scale biofuels in ways that benefit the environment, enhance security and have the potential to bring power to upwards of 500 million of Asia’s poor.

In the Philippines, as you may have heard President Arroyo talk about it, we are committed to being a strong partner. We are working toward the Philippine goal of a hundred percent rural electrification using clean power sources. We are committed to helping support efforts here to develop clean energy sources, to encourage private sector investment, and to build upon the efforts made by the Philippine Congress in their passage of the Renewable Energy Act and the Biofuels Act.

Finally, I want to compliment all of you because this forum is a real example of partnership in action by bringing together Asia’s leading policy makers, business leaders, investors, practitioners, to share lessons. This is quickly becoming the premiere knowledge and networking event in Asia on clean energy front. Just three years ago, as we heard earlier, there were three sponsors and about a hundred and fifty participants. Now we are at six sponsors and more than seven hundred participants. It’s a great recognition, not only that this is a problem that we must work together on, but it also is a great recognition that this forum is a practical forum that really seeks to chart a path for the future.

As we go forward, the United States is very clear that this is not a problem any one government or one nation can solve alone, nor can one country nor can one NGO. This is a global issue that requires global solutions. There is no other option, but working together and finding ways to build on our strengths and build more partnerships. We are very committed to reaching a strong international agreement in Copenhagen, one that reflects national actions of all major economies, encouraging cost effective reductions and a strong worldwide push for greener sources of energy.

You’re here this week because you recognize that, because you know that we have to transform ideas and statements into reality that the future of our planet, our citizens, our businesses, and our way of life depends on joint actions. We can no longer keep good ideas to ourselves. No one has the monopoly on having the right solution. It is indeed a global effort that requires global solutions.

I congratulate all of you on behalf of the United States government for your commitment to clean energy and I thank you very much for taking the time to listen to me. Thank you.

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