The International Project on Energy Commitments and Compliance

Katherine Peters

   We live in a representative democracy.  Our ideas are represented by elected officials.  They make policy and commitments on our behalf.  They listen to our demands.  But how are we supposed to know what to tell them if we don’t understand the commitments they make and the results they produce?  How are we supposed to hold our representatives accountable for their actions if we don’t really understand their actions and all of the implications?        Some information about our politicians’ commitments is available.  But it is scattered and incomplete.  It is also difficult to discern what information is biased hype and what’s true. 

        The International Project on Energy Commitments and Compliance (IPECC) aims to fix this problem.  IPECC will be an online database containing information about treaties, soft law, partnerships, contracts, and unilateral pledges made by governments and corporations to make a positive impact on global energy and environmental security.  To start, IPECC will focus on 10 such commitments.  It will provide detailed information about these commitments, the degree to which they are being implemented, and the impact they are having, as well as the full text of each commitment.  In the future we hope to expand the database to include all commitments in effect that are related to energy and the environment.

            Given that there are literally thousands of such commitments, including them all in our database is too large a task for the student-based staff at EESI.  We are therefore designing IPECC to be a semi-open “wiki” system.  It will be similar to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, in the sense that it will incorporate information gathered by people around the world.  However, to ensure the quality and accuracy of the information, it will be semi-open, allowing only identified experts to write articles.  But, because commentary from the public is also essential to maintaining a balanced perspective, IPECC will have a designated public comment space.

            Maintaining the accuracy of our information is important to EESI.  We are not affiliated with any political party or persuasion.  Our only political agenda is to provide citizens and governments with access to information so that they can make better decisions.  Our expert contributors will come from a variety of backgrounds and will represent a broad range of views.

            By making this information freely available to the public, IPECC will help to establish an environment of transparency and accountability with respect to these commitments.  Interested citizens will have access to the information needed to understand what their governments and corporations are doing.  It will enable governments, corporations, and decision-makers of all stripes to see what is and is not working, and to glean lessons from past failures and successes that can be used to strategically improve other sustainable energy-related efforts.

Student Comment: (continued...)

        If states fail to meet mid-term goals or show progress on the measuring system the plan offers no suggestions as to what should be done. This points to the central flaw in the President’s plan: it is completely voluntary and it lacks a viable incentive plan.  Deviations from a global effort come with no repercussions. Instead, the President’s plan relies on the good will of nations.

       The President’s plan is blind to one of the largest looming issues associated with climate change: the development of India and China.  Using figures from the U.S. Department of Energy, the President points out that economic growth can occur alongside a reduction in GHG emissions.  What the President fails to point out is that the opposite can be, and often is, true.  The President makes no mention of the issues associated with the growth of India and China, where the improvement in their economy and social wellbeing will be linked with the single largest coal plant building project the world has ever seen.

       The plan does take a step in the right direction concerning renewable and sustainable energy.  President Bush calls for increased research and development funding into renewables.  This indicates the President’s understanding that renewable and sustainable energy development is not only a wise policy, but also one necessary to addressing the climate change issue.  Where the President’s plan falls short is in the details.  He references a similar objective in the 2005 Energy Policy.  Like that plan, the President’s current plan offers only vague goals.  The $12 billion invested by the U.S. government into renewable research was invested with little guidance as to where or how it should be spent.  Much of it has yet to be appropriated and that which has been allocated was disbursed in a scattershot pattern, with little rhyme or reason.  Without some kind of structured research and development scheme the money invested in research and development is too often wasted.  If we are to make major strides in renewable energy technology, the kind that are necessary to deal with this issue, we must have structured energy research.  In addition, we need a plan for moving the technology from the drawing board to the streets; the President’s plan lacks such a strategy. 

       The President’s energy plan takes a more symbolic than material step in the right direction. The plan does indicate a change in the Bush Administration’s view of climate change.  However, without concrete goals or structured strategy, and with a reliance on voluntary efforts, the plan is most likely to end up among the stacks of ineffectual presidential initiatives.