Participants of a round-table within the Russian energy week-2018 have discussed prospects for sustainable energy development in EAEU countries
The roundtable discussion “Policies of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Countries in Promoting Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Energy Development: Challenges and Joint Initiatives”, supported by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation and the Eurasian Economic Commission, took place within the annual energy forum “Russian Energy Week-2018”. The event brought together representatives of sectoral agencies from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, the Eurasian Economic Commission, Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and UNDP, as well as expert, academic and scientific community of the EAEU countries.
It was declared that some countries in the region have already succeeded in creating effective energy saving mechanisms with active state involvement. The importance of cooperation and exchange of best-practices in the field of energy efficiency of EAEU countries were brought up as important factors. The key role of the regional UNDP project was also highlighted as the promoter of unified supranational priorities among the member states.
Boris Meschanov from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation emphasized that climate change mitigation, including policies and measures on improving energy efficiency of production and consumption, is a priority area for the Russia-UNDP Trust Fund for Development, which was established in 2015 as a key financial mechanism for the implementation of Russia's assistance to CIS countries, as well as to countries in other regions with specific emphasis on Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income countries in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Alexander Averchenkov from UNDP provided a brief update on priority areas of the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund and presented a Trust Fund project “Strengthening capacities for sustainable development finance in the CIS region” aimed at the provision of technical assistance to the countries in attracting financial resources of the international donors.
The round-table was organized by the Regional Project “Regulatory Framework to Promote Energy Efficiency in Countries of the Eurasian Economic Union”, which sets the goal to reduce energy consumption and related greenhouse gases emissions by promoting energy efficiency of lighting, household appliances and buildings engineering systems in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan via the introduction of energy efficiency regulations and standards, development of testing capacities, as well as the promotion of energy efficient technologies through awareness raising of end-users. The project is implemented by UNDP with grant financing from the Russian Federation.