Statement by Mr. Hidenobu Sobashima, Delegation of Japan to WSSD at the Plenary on Partnership on Energy

August 28, 2002

Madam Chair,

Just like water and sanitation my colleague wished to have emphasized in the morning session ...,
by the way, his written contribution will be circulated with the kind understanding and cooperation from theSecretariat, energy is a necessity of life.

I heard many interesting points on energy from previous speakers. I would like to concentrate my remarks on energy efficiency and related matters.
As Japan is a resource poor country, depending 80 to 90 % of its total primary energy supply overseas, it is using energy as efficiently as possible.

But in the past we made mistakes. Pollution, as byproduct of development. Overuse of energy was there. We will be showing the video of our failures and lessons learned on pollution from 10:30 a.m. at the Japan Pavilion in Ubuntu Village together with other various events there on Japan Day tomorrow and the day after. Its pamphlets are being distributed.

Now Japan has achieved the best energy efficiency in the world, especially in terms of energy consumption per GDP. We attach importance to technological development, and you will see a fuel cell car in the Japan Pavilion I mentioned just now. Energy innovation!
That is why Japan has proposed and is promoting the energy literacy initiative. The purpose is simple. To spread the recognition of limited availability of energy and the necessity to use it wisely and efficiently. For this purpose Japan will engage itself in energy education both for children and adults. Japan proposes development of a network of international organizations on energy and human resources development so that, once you have a prototype energy text book, you will be able to spread it worldwide.

We hope this recognition will be shared as many people and as many countries as possible for our common objective of sustainable development.

Thank you.