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UN Commission for Sustainable Development

Answer

I have been asked to reply.The 15th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) takes place in New York from the 30 April to 11 May 2007. The topics under discussion were agreed in the 2003 multi-year programme of work, which operates in two-yearly cycles, with one review year and one policy year. We are currently in the second, policy year of discussions on the cluster of climate change, industrial development, energy for sustainable development, and air pollution and atmosphere.The UK will be working, through the EU, to secure action-oriented outcomes in each of the thematic sectors. In particular, the EU is looking to foster a transition to a global low carbon economy, with diversified energy policies included in national sustainable development strategies and plans by 2010, with priority to energy efficiency, renewable energies and improved access to sustainable and affordable energy services for all. The EU has also called for a basket of voluntary commitments on access to energy, energy efficiency and renewables, and a review mechanism to assess progress.We are also working to ensure an integrated approach through including these issues in national sustainable development strategies, poverty reduction strategies and national development plans. We believe that full consideration of the interlinkages and cross-cutting issues is fundamental to good policy-making.In addition, we want to ensure that the work of the CSD is complementary to and supports, rather than cuts across, the discussions and negotiations under the United Nations Forum Convention on Climate Change and its associated Kyoto protocol.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

458 c1093-4W; 128143

Session

2006-07

Subjects

UN Commission on Sustainable Development

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk