Industrial energy efficiency is key to sustainable industrial development, especially in developing countries like Viet Nam, according to a flagship publication of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) launched in Hanoi on March 7th, 2012.
UNIDO’s Industrial Development Report, entitled “Industrial energy efficiency for sustainable wealth creation: capturing environmental, economic and social dividends”, urges investment in energy-efficient technologies in order to achieve sustainable growth. The publication stresses that sustainable energy production is essential to overcome the major challenges the world faces today.
Presenting the report, UNIDO Managing Director, Wilfried Luetkenhorst said: “At the turn of the 19th century, there were only about one billion people living on our planet. Now there are 7 billion. A world of seven billion must learn to be sustainable to survive. UNIDO is doing its share to raise awareness and offer a roadmap for industrial development. This is why we believe industrial energy efficiency is so important. It can address challenges such as green growth, employment generation, security, climate change, food production and poverty reduction. Industrial energy efficiency is essential for strengthening economies, protecting ecosystems and achieving social benefits.”
He added that energy consumption could grow even faster as developing and emerging countries reduce the income gap and grapple with growing populations demanding more manufactured products. This makes it imperative to remove barriers that currently impede energy efficiency investments.
Luetkenhorst said that the new report was UNIDO’s main contribution to the Sustainable Energy for All initiative launched by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The initiative aims to achieve by 2030 three inter-linked global targets: universal access to modern energy services; the doubling of energy efficiency; and the doubling of the share of renewable energy in the world’s energy supply.
The Industrial Development Report has a special focus on developing countries, backed by a set of unique statistics on Manufacturing Value Added (MVA), manufacturing export trends, and other key indicators. It also presents UNIDO’s Competitive Industrial Performance (CPI) Index.
The Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Tran Tuan Anh, welcomed UNIDO’s initiatives aimed at promoting industrial energy efficiency, especially in establishing an international coordination mechanism to promote energy efficiency technology transfer from developed countries to developing countries.
He added that in order to establish an institutional framework and promote energy efficiency in all sectors of Viet Nam, the Government approved the Vietnam Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programme (VNEEP) for the period of 2006–2015 with the overall aim of securing 3-5 per cent of total national energy consumption in the period from 2006 to 2010 and 5-8 per cent from 2011 to 2015.
The Law on Energy Efficiency and Conservation was promulgated as the highest legal basis providing detailed guidance for the management and enforcement of energy efficiency and conservation, including industrial energy efficiency.
A panel discussion followed the official launch of the report. It was moderated by UNIDO Managing Director Luetkenhorst, and included the Ambassador of Switzerland to Viet Nam, Andrej Motyl; Director of the Science, Technology and Energy Efficiency Dept., General Directorate of Energy, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Phuong Hoang Kim; Deputy Director-General of the Institute of Energy, Nguyen Tuan Anh; the Chairman of the Viet Nam Steel Association, Pham Chi Cuong; the Director of Viet Nam Environmental Protection Fund, Nguyen Nam Phuong; and the Director-General of the Hanoi Rubber Joint Stock Company, Pham Hong Viet.
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