Japan, US, UK To Create A Developing World Clean Energy Fund

Feb 8, 2008 - James Herron - Dow Jones Newswire

The governments of the U.S., the U.K. and Japan are planning to create a multibillion dollar investment fund to make clean energy technologies affordable for developing countries, the finance ministers of those countries wrote in U.K. newspaper the Financial Times Friday.

The fund will help those countries bridge the gap between dirty energy technologies that emit carbon dioxide and contribute to climate change, and cleaner forms of energy using more advanced but also costlier technology, wrote U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, U.S. Secretary of State for the Treasury Henry Paulson and Japan's Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga.

Global energy demand is expected to rise by 55% by 2030, requiring $10 trillion of investment in energy supply infrastructure in developing countries alone. The World Bank estimates that the cost of ensuring these investments are made using clean energy technology would be an additional $30 billion a year, the ministers wrote.

U.S. President George Bush has committed $2 billion over three years to the fund. Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has already announced a $10 billion financial mechanism to provide support to developing countries tackling climate change.

"To be large enough to have a meaningful impact, the fund will require the support of other governments. We ask others to join our effort," the ministers wrote.

The fund will be launched as nations engage in United Nations negotiations to design a framework for tackling climate change after the Kyoto framework expires in 2012. The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change will be meeting throughout 2008 culminating in the Copenhagen climate conference at the end of 2009.

Company Web site: http://www.ft.com

-By James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9317; james.herron@ dowjones.com