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Expert opinion
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NGOs' InitiativesNGO Proposals on the Global Energy Security“Rodnik” Charity Foundation, Cheliabinsk State University A very large number of problems is closely tied to the energy security issues, that’s why we would like to start a proposal on the transfer to the renewable sources of energy and oil and gas production limitation – this step would allow to solve a problem of the world countries’ energy security and to reduce considerably the harmful damage of humans to the environment. Of course, the working out the problem has begun long ago, but they are still not so widely disseminated. In such a case we should speed up the process, before the human race faces the global ecological catastrophe. Besides, the increasing energy resources production engenders the interstices in the Earth’s crust and if admit such activities go ahead, various catastrophes are not excluded. All-Russia Environment Society, Balakovo regional Department 1. To stop the open or/and veiled financing atomic energy from state budgets 2. To unit efforts aimed at working out and implementation of secure technologies of mastering renewable sources of energy 3. To control the realization of programs and works on the rehabilitation of radiation-contaminated territories 4. Not to admit Russia being an international dump of nuclear waste materials. . The Krasnoyarsk regional NGO “Ecological Association” • To adopt laws allowing the development of small-scale and renewable energy • To create economic and legal mechanisms that contribute to the quick transfer to energy-saving and resource-saving technologies and models of activities • To create economic and legal mechanisms providing competitive preferences of the most clean resource-saving production that should be safe both for humans and for the environment • To give up developing the energy branches fraught with serious negative consequences for the nature and humans (e.g. nuclear energy) The voluntary regional NGO “Green Committee” (Orenburg) To limit the development of the reactor compartments substructures of APP (atomic power plant) in Russia and abroad because of their high accident-rate. Such structures being accident prone can engender new Chernobyls. The results of scientific research in this direction are accessible in Russia and abroad including USA The Bashkortostan Ecologists Union The Association of Ecologist Lawyers of Russia The creation of mechanisms of international law aimed at limiting the expansion of oil and gas multinational companies in mastering the Northern seas shelf. - working out additional international treaties between Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Azerbaidjan, Turkmenistan on the Caspian Sea and its bio-resources salvation within the mastering of oil and gas fields in Caspian region. - Russian ratification of the environmental Stockholm Convention - Russian joining the Orhuz Convention - The realization of the Kyoto Protocol mechanisms at the international and national levels - To work out and adopt the legal norm regulating the qualifying new technologies as “BET” (best existing technologies) The regional youth NGO “Rassvet-S”, Smolensk The participation of G8 countries in the support to the development of renewable (ecologically pure) energy resources. The influence of new ecological forms of town planning to modern urbanization context. To contribute to the implantation of the basic eco-economical values into the modern educational system To concentrate the G8 economic activities within the balanced policy in the sphere of the states’ eco-economic development The support of the international NGOs working in the sphere of ecological security, education, environment protection, settling regional conflicts The Group of APP civil expertise To analyze and adopt the conceptual order of the energy source choice on basis of the socio-ecological approach 1. A maximally dangerous accident is being modeled on basis of alternatively comparable plants; the priority has the plant having as a result: - the least human casualties - the least ecological and social damage taking into account distant consequences 2. The energy source must be ecologically and economically acceptable for the present territory 3. The priority has the plant using the renewable natural energy Civil Union “Green Alternative” 1. To work out the strategy of the renewable sources and energy saving priority development 2. To provide as soon as possible the real realization of the Kyoto Protocol in the countries where the Protocol is ratified. To call the countries which haven’t yet ratified the Kyoto Protocol to ratify it without delay. 3. To create economic conditions for a possible consumers’ (individual, particularly) choice of a natural energy source, which they are ready to use (wind, sun energy, gas, nuclear source etc.) 4. Gradual rejection of the big unit powers development, which could become target for terrorist attacks, especially, APP. 5. To stop veiled financing the atomic energy. To make the policy regulating the atomic energy development more transparent and open for civil participation. 6. To create transparent mechanisms of accumulation and use of resources of withdrawal of APP, having exhausted their project resources. 7. To provide civil participation in forming the energy policy. The “Dront” Ecological Center We need strict measures to develop renewable energy sources at the international level, first of all due to the access to the modern technologies and state support of their implementation, through the inclusion of all costs related to waste materials to the energy cost (first of all – in nuclear energy) Kola Coordinative Ecological Center “Geja” • to provide civil participation in forming the energy policy • to provide the use of ecologically pure technologies within the production and transportation of hydrocarbons in Arctic region • to provide the preservation of the Artic ecosystem, particularly, through creation of zones closed for oil and gas production. “Partnership for Development” Association To create international energy strategy aimed at the rational use of energy resources – i.e. increasing the share of renewable energy sources and effectiveness of the energy use, first of all, due to the spread of economic instruments and technologies, to widen the results of the energy research and to increase their competitiveness. To reduce damage to the environment within the production, processing, transportation and use of the traditional energy sources, as well as within keeping and disposing of the nuclear waste arising on all stages of the life cycle. The nuclear energy cannot be considered an acceptable direction from the point of view of increasing global energy security and creating effective energy, because the nuclear waste materials are potentially dangerous resource and the modern nuclear technologies are fraught with serious problems and have considerable limits. The Siberian Ecological Agency 1. To reconsider plans of military nuclear waste materials utilizations, to stop producing special fuel using arms Plutonium. 2. Not to admit the creation of the atomic plant in Iran. Even if the Uranium is being concentrated in Russia and Iran has no direct access to the uranium explosive assembly, Iran will get a working reactor and will be able to evolve plutonium. 3. To work out an energy policy which should be common for all G8 states and which priority should be special accent to the renewable sources. Civil Movement “Russian national and cultural Union – Lebed”, Tyumen’ 1. While forming the global energy strategy one should understand the necessity of energy saving in the world level, which main grain is to approach the zones of consumption to the zones of production. That will allow to reduce to 15 % the losses of resources within its transportation, commercial losses (stealing), technical losses (accidents, transportation costs), possible terrorist attacks and to exclude ecological risks. The G8 states must reconsider the system of the world energy resources consumption and to develop their policy taking into account that in the nearest future the world inhabitants will be concentrated near the “world energy batteries”, i.e. near the zones of oil and gas production. 2. “Resources – the property of our planet” To recognize biggest oil and gas fields, oil and gas provinces as the objects of international importance, to recognize that the present situation needs an urgent international monitoring, first of all, of the state of the resources deterioration due to the non-quality energy management of the companies and state officials. To provide an analogue of MAGATE controlling the state of nuclear plants, of monuments having special historic significance. It is necessary to take into account that the resources having a several centuries’ history are more long-lived than the countries, political systems, ideology and philosophy. 3. To provide monitoring of the Earth’s bosom using strategy, especially in the countries having strategic fields of oil, gas, other energy resources, due to the fact that the growth of oil and gas profits has negative correlation with the oil management state, i.e. worsens significantly its quality due to the “corridor” nature of the decision making process, decreasing the democratic procedures sphere, domination of the fiscal constituent to the prejudice of the scientific and analytic parts of the process of bosom using. The worsening of the oil management leads in its turn to decreasing resources, aggressive oil production, increasing oil losses and decreasing final oil recovery. To organize a special international meeting dedicated to the today’s state of oil management in Russia. The priority of the meeting should be the fact of double decreasing average coefficient of oil recovery to compare with 1950’ recovery and decreasing for 50% to compare with USA where the structure of resources is worse. What is worse, the project oil production coefficient reduced for 25% (its average value is about 50-53%). According to academician Kozlovsky, Russia has lost about 15 billion ton of potentially produced resources. To conduct monitoring of the taking decision process in the sphere of bosom using, particularly, the control over experts’ exclusion from legislative and other procedures of taking important state decisions. To involve the regime of reinforced monitoring only after the international experts evaluation that the oil share of the state budget exceeds 50%. I.e. when the economy will take an obvious rough nature. 4. To reconsider the next generations’ relation towards the Foundations being formed at the expense of oil incomes under the conditions when a “money world etalon” is absent, when we witness alternative world currencies, supplying global merchandise flows. The share of gold in dollar considerably changes, the threat of “new financial empires” disappearance increases, the cost of the resources increases faster than the world currencies’ rates. To recognize that under modern conditions at the world financial market the out-of-time resources transformation infringes enormously the next generations’ rights and interests. That’s why we should keep next generations funds in resources but not in money equivalent. 5. To work out recommendations about the critical share of oil incomes in the budgets of the petroleum-exporting countries. To recognize, that the exceeding of oil incomes share in a country budget is an index of the fact that the country’s oil managers don’t manage the state economy control. To work out recommendations on reducing the growth of transnational oil companies’ incomes to compare with the budgets of the petroleum-exporting countries where they conduct their main activities. In particular, to reduce the percentage of the company and the budgets incomes, the advanced growth due to the fact that their influence and other parameters become close to those of the state. To work out new criteria allowing to keep the economic sovereignty of the petroleum-exporting countries under the quality energy management. To organize the working out a system of objective international criteria allowing to evaluate the raw exporting countries development and today’s state as well as the state of oil management in these countries. To work out a system of encouragement for the petroleum-exporting countries executing the international community recommendations, aimed at keeping global energy security. 6. To work out special measures for petroleum-exporting countries which have adopted in their legislative field a law of direct national elections of the Oil Minister – Chief Oil Manager (following the experience of the Canadian province Alberta). To start monitoring of managing decisions making process within the bosom exploitation sphere, particularly, the control over experts’ exclusion from legislative and other procedures of taking important state decisions. 7. To recognize illegitimate the artificial leveling of the geographic energy advantages (similar to the advantages of the world recreation areas, cultural and historical advantages of European countries etc.), consisting in averaging electricity and other energy resources costs, through unification of consumption and production areas under the united tariff or price, through closed software and other mathematic manipulations. The population of the petroleum-exporting countries should possess the right for the “energy paradise” under the conditions of the “energy hell”, as well as other favorable areas population should keep such rights. 8. «We have to live here»: Taking into account the tendency of migration of the middle and poorest class to the directions of oil production areas (the tendency having the international nature) it is necessary to pay a special attention at keeping the environment and the control over respecting ecological requirements within the above-mentioned territories. 9. It is necessary to study more thoroughly the Finnish experience of establishing different costs and tariffs depending of the energy source being used. 10. To work out international measures prohibiting using resources with the output of their transformation into other energy resources (e.g. gas into electric energy etc.) less than a predetermined critical value. To work out sanctions for using of low output generations of energy resources processing. 11. To recognize inhuman the inflation limitation in the petroleum-exporting countries through the limitation of the poorest population incomes under the conditions when the inflation itself (particularly, expenses inflation) is engendered by the advanced growth of oil and gas companies managers’ profits., in particular, growth of demand and their salaries. To recommend to limit the inflation in such cases at the expense of a top-managers’ profit monitoring, as well as the control over the citizens budget state through the control over the buying capacity of an exporting country’s currency (ruble for Russia) and through the comparison of a citizen’s expenses and his/her profits. To recognize that the social situation in the exporting countries is one of the most important constituents of the global energy security. 12. To recognize imperfect the methods of the “external construction of the democracy” in the petroleum-exporting countries. To create a group of experts for working out recommendations, international and national decisions, allowing to provide the exporting countries’ economic and other sovereignty with all necessary international obligations, particularly, the development of the civil society, the effective system of civic rights protection and keeping the moral, spiritual and human potential. Siberian Women League. Natalia Chistyakova Proposals to G8 - members Or what they have to do with their energy security (in the context of the conference «International Public Forum of the non-governmental organizations», that is devoted to the contribution of the civil society institutions to “G8 Group” summit’s agenda). At the subject of Energy security 1. While making the global energy strategy they should base upon the necessity of the global energy savings, which main point is to make fuel and energy consumers’ zones closer to fuel and energy production zones, that will allow to decrease the most sizeable energy losses (up to 15 per cent) while it is transported, including commerce losses (theft), technical (accidents, energy expenses while transporting, etc.) and terrorist losses (losses and leakages from acts of terrorism). Also, that can decrease ecological risks. G8 – members should reconsider their attitude to “world map of fuel and energy resources consumption” and come to the point that in the nearest future people will and should settle near the “energy batteries of the Earth” - fuel and energy production zones. 2. Natural resources are the public ownership All big oil and gas fields and deposits should be declared as objects of global importance, with measures aimed at international monitoring their condition and mining capacity. The major point of this monitoring must be the risk of worsening resources’ conditions as the result of poor management of fuel and energy companies or wrong decisions of state officials. Analogs of such systems are control of nuclear objects conditions by IAEA and control of condition of cultural and historical world-wide important monuments. It is necessary to understand and to base on the statement that “Resources with their thousands-year creation history are much older, more fundamental and more important than countries, political systems, ideologies and philosophies.” 3. They should monitor natural deposits usage strategies in those countries that have the most important reserves of oil, gas, other resources. The root of the problem is that increase of profit from oil and gas has a negative correlation with condition of the management in the industry, i.e. worsens its quality due to short sphere of democratic procedures, small groups of decision-makers, predominance of fiscal aims above scientific and analytical support in the resources usage process. This deterioration of management condition leads in its turn to deterioration of minerals reserves condition, aggressive oil and gas production, waste of oil in oil-stratum, and therefore decrease in further oil recovery. They should organize a special international conference, devoted to condition of oil-management in Russia, with the main topic about the fact of decreasing average index (coefficient) of oil recovery for the past several years (in Russia from 1950 year – twice decreased; comparing to the USA nowadays – one and a half, taking into consideration, that the structure of the minerals in the USA is worse). Moreover, we have a 25% decrease of planned oil recovery index (coefficient) with the average figure of the past years - 50-53%. Member of the The Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Doctor of Science E. Kozlovskiy determined that it is up to 15 billions ton waste of natural resources that could be extracted (“Increasing oil fields recovery as a strategy of a normal petroleum reproduction”/”Industrial journal” November, 2005, # 11) They should introduce a system of monitoring management decisions in the sphere of natural deposits usage, including control of cases when there happens removal experts from legislative and other procedures of making important state decisions. They should admit to decision making only active experts, i.e. scientists, who made their own expert conclusions for the past five years (because of appearance in the sphere of (laws) examination ignorant and self-constituted scientists and experts, who self-confer degrees and refer to their own non-existent scientific works). The strict regulations and all procedures described above should be introduced just after the part of oil profits of our country budget (estimated by domestic and foreign experts, increased with exporters’ profit and profit from reselling resources) will increase 50% of all profits of country’s budget, i.e. after a signal, that economy of the country takes on feeding direction. 4. They should fundamentally reconsider their attitude to Future Generations Funds, that are formed at the expense of oil profits. When there is no real “global money standard”, alternative world currencies appear to supply world trade flows (EURO and others); value of a dollar in gold changes sharply, there accumulates a risk, that “all financial markets can burst like a soap-bubble”; moreover, mineral resources’ prizes rise faster than world currency rates. They should consider that in existing modern conditions of the world financial market, untimely resources transformation in money (Russian stabilization fund), fundamentally damages future generations’ interests and rights. Thus, Future Generations Funds should be saved in mineral resources but not in money. 5. They should develop recommendations about marginal level of oil profits in budgets of oil exporting countries, and declare that exceeding this level means that economic, financial, oil industry state managers might not cope with national economy managing. They should formulate recommendations about limitation the level of transnational companies’ oil profits comparing to the budgets of the countries, where this companies conduct their business (including limitation of “percentage ratio between oil profits of the companies and those of exporting counties’ budgets” and expansion rate of this figure), paying special attention to the risk that transnational companies with their influence and other parameters slightly come close to states’ scales. They should build up some other criteria, allowing to keep economic independence of exporting counties and to let them develop their own qualitative fuel and energy management. They should work up developing a system of objective international criteria, that could help to appreciate developing and situation in economy of countries - exporters of primary goods and the picture of oil management in this countries. They should lunch a motivating system for those exporting countries, which execute recommendations of international community, aimed at saving global energy security. 6. They should elaborate a system of measures for those exporting countries, which formalized a nation-wide voting for the Minister of fuel and energy (the Major Oil Manager of the country) in their internal legislation, as province Alberta (Canada) did. 7. They should accept artificial negations of geographic advantages to be unfair (like well-known climatic advantage of famous recreation zones, cultural and historic advantages of Europe etc.). This negation lies in making energy tariffs average for different territories, like it is being made with mineral resources’ prizes, unification tariffs for energy consumers’ zones and energy production zones, using closed-put software, mathematical and by other methods. People in energy production zones should have rights to live in “energy heaven” due to necessity to live in “climatic hell”, as, for example, people living in favored climate, 100% use their rights. 8. “Energy batteries’ zone is our home”: Taking into consideration that poor people and those of middle class migrate to the oil production zones, and now this tendency involves people from foreign countries, it’s necessary to pay special attention to nature preservation and control of environment at this zones. 9. It is essential to inspect and disseminate a positive experience of Finland about formation of different energy prizes in relation to the raw materials and sources used. 10. They should introduce a scope of international measures, prohibiting mineral resources usage when they are transformed to energy with coefficient of efficiency below established limit. Also, they should build up a system of penalties when this coefficient don’t meet this requirements. 11. They should admit the fast of inhuman inflation limitation in exporting countries by mean of limitation poor people’s salary, while this very inflation (including cost-push inflation) is a result of outrun expansion rate of fuel and energy managers’ personal income, including effect of growth in demand for this work and growth of their salary percentage in natural resources prizes. They should recommend curbing inflation by monitoring the growth of top-managers salary, and by analysis of households’ budgets through control of purchasing power of a currency of an exporting country (ruble in Russia) and comparing the rate of increase of personal income of an individual to the rate of his expenses. They should also consider that social stability in oil exporting countries is one of the major components of a global energy security. “Social terrorism” mustn’t become a tool in someone’s game to raise the world oil prizes. 12. They should allow that existing methods of “building democracy from abroad” in exporting countries are imperfect, because they don’t take into account factors, that initiate sharp society stratification to rich and poor people, sharp percentage increase of poor people, whose votes easy to be manipulated. That leads to actual control of elections’ results by small group of people, who are the owners of the major part of privet sector capital in Russia. They should create a group of experts to work out recommendations, projects of decisions at international and internal state level, so that these decisions could combine an exporting country’s right to have economic and other independence with its international responsibilities, among them responsibility to develop civil society, to create effective system to protect civil rights, to safeguard human, intellectual, mental potential. The Managers Association The Possible Directions of the NGOs Participation in Discussing. The Global Energy Security Issues NGOs can play considerable role in making recommendations to the G8 Summit agenda on the global energy security issues. There are two key questions able to determine the NGOs role in this sphere: - In which spheres of G8 activities are NGOs interested to participate? - In what format can NGOs participate and how can they influence the G8 activities? The documents contains ideas about the possible directions and formats of G8 states NGOs participation in discussions on the issues of the global energy security. The NGOs activities must be based on the interests of the civil society. The NGOs must, first of all, reflect the society's interest to the subject being discussed. What is the interest of the world community to the energy security issues? Their interest, of course, will differ from the interest of the business representatives (profit earning), but at the same will partly coincide with the interests of the G8 states. The interests of producers and consumers of energy, of those representing the developed and developing countries will also differ. That's why within the framework of the Civil G9 Project it is so important to reflect the interest of different groups of the world community. We suppose, the key interests of the world community to the global energy security are divided into several directions: - reduction the environment pollution during the production and transportation of energy - the losses compensation in case of technogenetic catastrophes within the production and transportation of energy (ecological pollution, health damage, loss of property etc.) - corruption reducing in the energy sector - equitable distribution of the energy resources incomes and using superprofits for the stable development of countries and regions - increase of the security for the transportation and keeping radioactive waste products - providing the stability of energy resources and acceptable prices We must admit, that the real possibilities of NGOs to influence the existing processes are lower than those of state power or business community. That's why within some of the directions the NGOs can play a small role and the priority in these spheres belongs to the state power and business community. The formats of the NGOs participation in protecting the society interests Taking into account the foreign and international experience we can propose following directions of NGOs participation in discussing global energy security issues: 1) Reduction of pollution during energy production and transportation The today economic growth is accompanied by the increasing demand for energy resources and, as a result, for its production and transportation. The energy production can be accompanied by the environment pollution, health damage by smog blowout, nuclear contamination of regions, choking up of waters, deforestation etc. The energy transportation is also potentially dangerous. The technogenic catastrophes (such risks are always possible during oil, gas, nuclear materials transportation) can negatively influence the ecological systems of the whole regions, economic` stability of regions, damage citizens' health. For example, an oil ship accident can not only influence flora and fauna of a region, but also to reduce a flow of tourists, damage the local population health etc. In this connection the NGOs' key aim is to get security guarantees from the energy producers and transporters, national and international structures. The process of energy production and transportation must be socially responsible. Activities: - to get the states powers' obligations to take measures aimed at reducing ecological risks related to the production and transportation of energy; - to prepare a list of issues of the society's deep concern in the sphere of energy production and transportation - to work out an effective mechanism of NGOs participation in control over the companies producing and transporting energy, to elaborate recommendations on the raise of responsibility of energy producers for environment pollution, to create mechanism of independent monitoring of the ecological legislation respect etc. - to adopt a Declaration calling G8 energy companies to implement standards of socially responsible production and transportation of energy resources, to step up demands to their foreign colleagues in this sphere - to work out proposals aimed at increasing the social activity of companies working in this sphere. 2) The guarantees of losses compensation in case of technogenic catastrophes related to the energy production and transportation The technogenic catastrophes related to the production and transportation of energy can have very serious consequences. One of the directions aimed at reducing the catastrophes' negative consequences together with increasing demands to the energy production and transportation security is the creation of special mechanisms of losses compensation. Such mechanisms are usually represented by insurance companies, special funds, state obligations to cover expenses related to the liquidation of the catastrophes consequences. The creation of such mechanisms on local, national and world level is the most important condition for taking necessary measures for quick liquidation of catastrophes consequences and compensation to injured parties. Activities: - to express the civil concern of the lack of guarantees to cover damages after technogenic catastrophes in energetic sphere; - to work out proposals aimed at the creation of mechanisms of the liquidation of catastrophes consequences in energetic sphere at local, regional, national and international level; - to call states to more strict control over the companies in the sphere of production and transportation security. 3) Corruption reducing in the energetic sector According to international researches the energy sector is one of most corrupted sphere in the whole spectrum of economic activities especially in developing countries. But today they speak about the corruption not only in the "Third World" countries, but also in world leading energy companies, particularly from G8 states, cooperating with these countries. The corruption and its negative influence at human rights, development of states and whole regions is obvious. In this connection it's necessary for all G8 states to act coherently, to diminish the corruption in the energy sphere and to raise its transparency. Activities: - to express a deep concern related to the high level of corruption in the energy sphere and to call G8 states to unit efforts if the struggle against corruption in this sphere; - to step up transparency demands to the energy companies activities, particularly within the conclusion of contracts abroad; - to work out proposals aimed at reducing the corruption in this sphere, to propose mechanisms of NGOs participation in this process; - to contribute to the implementation of corporate management modern standards in energy producing companies. 4) Equitable distribution of energy resources incomes and the use of superprofits for the stable development of countries and regions The demand for energy resources contribute to the earning of superprofits in the gas and oil spheres. The incomes are distributed unequally and such situation leads to the social imparity and tension in different regions of the world. In this connection responsible representatives of G8 civil societies must make public proposals aimed at working out mechanisms of equitable distribution of energy resources incomes and their use for the development of poorest countries and regions. Activities: - to work out proposals aimed at the equitable distribution of energy resources incomes; - to use a system of fees for the oil and the use of this money to help poorest countries. 5) The increase of the security of transportation and keeping nuclear waste materials The secure dumping of radioactive waste materials and its transportation is a very important problem of the atomic energy. It is important to strengthen the international efforts for ecologically pure mechanisms of processing the nuclear materials instead of 'temporarily" dumping. Activities: - to call G8 states to work out measures stimulating scientific research, search of modern technologies of nuclear waste processing and its secure dumping. 6) Providing stability of energy resources and available prices. The NGOs role in this sphere can't be very effective. The taking measures providing stability of energy resources and keeping its price available is the responsibility of the state. The Document is prepared by the Department of analysis and research of the Managers Association. Other analytical documents are available on the website www.amr.ru. |
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Expert opinion
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