R 140726Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 7529
AMEMBASSY BEIJING 
AMEMBASSY BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 
AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 
AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 
AMEMBASSY HANOI 
AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 
AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 
AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 
AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 
AMEMBASSY MANILA 
AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 
AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH 
AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 
AMEMBASSY SEOUL 
AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 
AMEMBASSY TOKYO 
AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR 
AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE 
AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON

UNCLAS BANGKOK 001685 
 
 
SECSTATE FOR OES, EAP, D 
SECSTATE PLEASE PASS TO EPA/OIA AND DOE 
AID FOR ANE/AA, ANE/EAA, ANE/TS, ANE/SPO, 
EGAT/AA, EGAT/ESP, LPA 
BRUSSELS FOR USAID 
BEIJING FOR USAID 
TOKYO FOR USAID 
NEW DELHI FOR USAID 
HANOI FOR USAID 
JAKARTA FOR USAID 
MANILA FOR USAID 
PHNOM PENH FOR USAID 
KATHMANDU FOR USAID 
ISLAMABAD FOR USAID 
COLOMBO FOR USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID SENV ENRG ASEAN APECO
 
SUBJECT: Asia Clean Energy Forum 2009 Draws More Than 800 Experts to 
Share Successful Strategies for Scaling Up Clean Energy Investments 
in Asia 
 
REF: BANGKOK 001678 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: To help confront the urgent challenge of scaling up 
clean energy solutions for Asia while mitigating climate change, the 
US Agency for International Development's Regional Development 
Mission for Asia (USAID/RDMA) partnered with the Asian Development 
Bank (ADB) and other donors to organize the 2009 Asia Clean Energy 
Forum (ACEF) during June 17-19 during Climate and Clean Energy Week 
at ADB headquarters in Manila. The event was attended by more than 
800 key energy experts, developers, policy makers, and financiers 
who shared their experiences designing and implementing clean energy 
initiatives that, if significantly scaled up, will address climate 
change and strengthen the long-term energy security of Asian 
nations. USAID and ADB are now initiating planning for ACEF 2010 and 
associated events. END SUMMARY 
 
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Climate and Clean Energy Week 
------------------ 
 
¶2. USAID/RDMA co-organized a series of events during Climate and 
Clean Energy Week through its Environmental Cooperation-Asia Clean 
Development and Climate Program (ECO-Asia CDCP), in partnership with 
the Asian Development Bank. Supporting sponsors included the 
Governments of Australia, Japan, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. This was 
the fourth year of the event, and the third consecutive year that it 
was co-sponsored by USAID/RDMA. 
 
¶3. Climate and Clean Energy Week included two main meetings.  In 
cooperation with The Energy Research Institute (TERI), ADB organized 
a High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific 
during June 16-17, 2009.  Following the Dialogue, USAID's Regional 
Development Mission for Asia co-organized the Asia Clean Energy 
Forum during June 17-19, 2009. 
 
¶4. The High-Level Dialogue featured a wide range of prominent 
climate change experts and officials. The urgency of action on 
climate change was highlighted by the host of the event, Nobel Prize 
Winner Dr. R.K. Pachauri, who said that the world had only six years 
left to limit greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid a tipping 
point that would increase global temperatures by more than 2 degrees 
Celsius. 
 
¶5. Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivered a speech 
at a special closing session of the High-Level Dialogue that was 
attended by both participants of the Dialogue and the Asia Clean 
Energy Forum. President Arroyo urged Asian countries to embrace 
renewable energy as a means of helping to avert catastrophic climate 
change. Climate change must not be forgotten in the efforts to end 
the global economic downturn, she said. 
 
¶6. During the week, USAID/RDMA Acting Director Krell met with ADB 
Acting US Executive Director Paul Curry at ADB to brief him on the 
week's events and their relevance to addressing clean energy 
challenges in Asia. Curry positively noted the USAID-ADB 
collaboration on the event and was pleased to hear USAID plans to 
continue to support the Forum next year. 
 
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Asia Clean Energy Forum 
------------------ 
 
¶7. Following the conclusion of the High-Level Dialogue, a total of 
821 energy experts, policy makers, financiers, and project 
developers from 47 countries participated in the Asia Clean Energy 
Forum 2009 (the Forum) during June 17-19, 2009. As a testament to 
the rapidly growing interest in clean energy and climate issues, 
this year's Forum had double the number participants reached in 
2007, the first year that USAID co-organize the Forum with ADB. 
 
¶8. Featuring a total of 100 expert speakers and 25 sessions, this 
year's Forum focused on initiatives that will address climate change 
and strengthen the long-term energy security of Asian nations while 
helping Asian businesses weather the global economic downturn. The 
discussions focused on four thematic areas: energy efficiency and 
renewable energy, urban and transport issues, access to energy for 
the poor, and energy and global climate change. 
 
¶9. Speakers at the Forum stressed that Asia would need to play a 
major role in reducing emissions and in the transition to a clean 
energy economy. Energy demand in Asia is expected to grow at an 
average annual rate of 2.4 percent to 2030, compared to 1.1 percent 
for the rest of the world. While private investment in clean energy 
technologies in Asia has stayed stable during the global slowdown, 
new opportunities have been emerging as a result of government 
stimulus packages. The "green" portion of the stimulus packages for 
the world's major economies, including China, total more than US$430 
billion. Most of this investment will go for clean energy, green 
buildings, and sustainable transport. 
 
¶10. United States Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney 
delivered a keynote address during the opening plenary emphasizing 
shared responsibility and cooperation. "The United States, just like 
every other nation on this planet, does not have the capacity to 
address climate change by itself," she said. "There is no 
go-it-alone option for addressing climate change. That's why we must 
work together. We must share solutions. There is, to be blunt, no 
other viable option." 
 
¶11. One of the main themes of the Forum was expanding access to 
energy for the hundreds of millions of people in Asia who lack 
modern energy services. Also during the opening plenary, ADB 
launched its "Energy for All" partnership which aims to provide 
access to reliable and affordable energy services to 100 million 
people in Asia and the Pacific by 2015. 
 
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USAID Activities Highlighted at the Forum 
------------------ 
 
¶12. USAID's ECO-Asia CDCP organized several key events during 
Climate and Clean Energy Week, including the following. 
 
¶13. USAID/RDMA launched a landmark report, Biofuels in Asia: An 
Analysis of Sustainability Options, which found that by promoting 
small-scale production of biofuels in rural communities rather than 
large-scale production for transport uses, governments and donors 
could help bring modern energy to as many as half a billion people 
in rural Asia. (See REFTEL BANGKOK 001678 for more details.) 
 
¶14. The Asia Clean Energy Marketplace Competition, organized by 
ECO-Asia CDCP allowed companies, entrepreneurs, or institutions from 
across Asia to showcase their technologies, products, or projects in 
a poster competition. Thirteen companies or organizations were 
selected as finalists and presented their posters during this 
session to participants and an international panel of judges. 
USAID/RDMA Acting Mission Director Barbara Krell presented awards 
during the closing plenary of the Forum. 
 
¶15. USAID's ECO-Asia program convened a pre-Forum workshop with more 
than 70 leading experts and government and utility officials on ways 
to scale up efficiency improvements through renovation and 
modernization (R&M) of coal-fired power plants in Asia. The thermal 
efficiency of Asia's existing coal-fired power plants is 
significantly lower than the global average, resulting in relatively 
high greenhouse gas and other emissions per unit of energy 
generated. Participants identified priorities for overcoming 
technical, regulatory, and financial barriers to scaling up R&M, and 
shared experience and lessons learned from ongoing projects, 
including USAID-supported efforts in China, India, and Vietnam. 
 
¶16. During a Clean Energy Project Showcase session, selected clean 
energy entrepreneurs presented their business plans to a mock panel 
of investors and to seek feedback for improving their proposals. The 
projects presented were for two-wheeled electric vehicles in India, 
a patented technology for specialty biodiesel from biomass in 
Southeast Asia, and integrated biomass-to-electricity project in 
Thailand. 
 
¶17. The Closing Plenary offered a vision for a clean energy future, 
with keynote remarks by Antonio Hill of Oxfam International, and 
Piyasvasti Amranand, former Minister of Energy for Thailand. Barbara 
Krell, USAID/RDMA Acting Mission Director, and Bindu Lohani, ADB 
Vice President of Finance and Administration, delivered closing 
remarks. Acting Mission Director Krell also presented awards to the 
three winners of Asia Clean Energy Marketplace Awards for Best 
Innovative Clean Energy Technology, Best Innovative Clean Energy 
Project or Business Model, and Best Innovative Clean Energy Program. 
 
¶18. Full presentations from the Forum are available online at 
http://www.cleanenergyasia.net, and more information about the 
USAID/RDMA ECO-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program can be 
found at http://usaid.eco-asia.org/programs/cdcp. 
 
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Planning for ACEF 2010 
------------------ 
 
¶19. Next year, the Asia Clean Energy Forum will be held at ADB in 
June or July 2010. USAID/RDMA plans to solicit suggestions from US 
agencies for speakers and participants, and in particular for 
high-level speakers from the US government. It is envisioned that 
next year's Forum will be designed to respond to actionable outcomes 
following the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December 
¶2009.  USAID/RDMA and ADB will also work to offset carbon emissions 
to make next year's Forum a "zero-carbon-footprint" event. 
 
 
JOHN