STORY: GENEVA / SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

At a special session on sustainable energy in Geneva, a top official at the IEA (International Energy Agency) said today that if the world does not change its investment plans in energy "as of 2017 the door to reach the 2 degree trajectory will be closed forever." CH UNTV / FILE

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:32
• Production Date: 16 November 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Subject Topical: ENERGY RESOURCES; ENVIRONMENT; NATURAL RESOURCES; NUCLEAR SCIENCE
• MAMS Id: U111116e

Description

STORY: GENEVA / SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
TRT: 2.32
SOURCE: CH UNTV /
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 16 NOVEMBER 2011, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

Shotlist

16 NOVEMBER 2011, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, exterior Palais des Nations
2. Med shot, journalist at press room
3. Med shot, Scott Foster, Director of the Sustainable Energy Division of UNECE briefing journalists
4. Cutaway, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Scott Foster, Director, Sustainable Energy Division, UNECE:
"We have to act quickly we've got to move at scale if we are going to meet that challenge and its very clear that every technology has its role to play in meeting that challenge of energy availability."
6. Cutaway, journalist
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency:
"Energy and climate change was on the top of the agenda for many governments but with the pressing needs to address the, to put the budget together, I think they are diverting their attention from energy to other very immediate issues. And second, many countries, many governments had substantial policies to change their energy investments - to go for more clean energy efficient technologies which required additional funding - and we see that the governments are avoiding to make those fundings available for new technologies - and therefore a move to a greener or more efficient technologies is at least delayed for some time because of the financial crisis."

FILE - IAEA - JULY 2011, FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI NUCLEAR POWER STATION, JAPAN

8. Various shots, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano and team at Power Station

16 NOVEMBER 2011, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency:
"The effect of Fukushima for the time being, for the nuclear industry is not yet very well known. But I am really concerned that many countries would give a second thought to their nuclear expansion plans with substantial implications for the energy sector. What could be those implications? 1) Lower nuclear energy in the future means negative implications for energy security, you will have less nuclear in the basket of energy, therefore less diversification, therefore less flexibility, so therefore it is bad news for energy security."
10. Cutaway, journalist
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency:
"We have to see significant amount of investments, about 100 billion dollars per year investment to be made in the oil industry. Recent political events, including the Arab Spring however did change the mindset of some governments in the region. So therefore I see substantial risks that this investment will not come forth therefore the production from the Middle East and North African countries will be much less than what we thought before - which could in turn bring oil markets in a tight situation which is going to end up with higher prices."
12. Cutaway, journalists
13. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency:
"If the world does not change its investment plans in energy as of 2017 the door to reach the 2 degree trajectory will be closed forever."
14. Wide shot, Palais des Nations

Storyline

Addressing the Jubilee Session of the UNECE Committee on Sustainable Energy which opened in Geneva today, Scott Foster, Director of UNECE's Sustainable Energy Division, addressing the news that world population had reached 7 billion, told reporters, "we have to act quickly we've got to move at scale if we are going to meet that challenge."

Fatih Birol, Chief Economist at the International Energy Agency used the event to launch the World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2011 which brought together the latest data, policy developments, and the experience of another year to provide robust analysis and insight into global energy markets.

Birol spoke of the shocks to the energy industry in 2011 following the Arab Spring uprisings and Fukushima nuclear disaster and warning of higher prices and energy insecurity, "the production from the Middle East and North African countries will be much less than what we thought before, which is going to end up with higher prices."

He also warned countries from abandoning their nuclear programmes, "lower nuclear energy in the future means negative implications for energy security, you will have less nuclear in the basket of energy, therefore less diversification, therefore less flexibility, so therefore it is bad news for energy security."

Birol also warned that "if the world does not change its investment plans in energy as of 2017 the door to reach the 2 degree trajectory will be closed forever."