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Small Island States Set Ambitious Energy Agenda for Rio+20

Vivien Foster's picture


Despite their diversity, many of them have a challenge and irony in common.  Being small, often remotely-located,  and usually without domestic fossil fuel reserves, these countries rely on imported fossil fuels for their energy, and bear the brunt of high and volatile  oil prices.  The irony is that many of these same islands have abundant renewable energy resources, including wind, solar, hydro and geothermal. And many are at sea-level, vulnerable to sea-level rise provoked by climate change, and highly-sensitized to the urgency of making a transition to a greener economy—a transition that would reduce their exposure to petroleum price shocks and hikes.