The Forum, held in parallel to the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development for Asia and the Pacific was organized jointly by a number of UN Agencies, such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Forum has gathered representatives from Central Asia and a number of CIS countries: experts in the field of environment and energy. UNDP in Uzbekistan was represented by a Specialist on Climate Change and Manager of a project on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. They both had an opportunity to participate in a number of plenary sessions, share experience with colleagues and present the project’s activities and findings.

The Forum has combined an assessment of energy efficiency and renewable energy policy and legislative frameworks with the analysis of existing international best practices in these fields. Status and potential of energy efficiency in various economic sectors, such as industry, fuel, housing and communal services, public buildings, construction and transport, has been reviewed. Special emphasis has been given to promoting energy efficiency in the residential and municipal sector, as one of the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions with large potential for energy consumption reduction. The main focus of the Forum was on ways and means of financing energy efficiency and investments to renewable energy options.

The plenary sessions of the Forum featured presentations of high-level officials from Governments of the countries of the UNECE and ESCAP regions, representatives of UN and other intergovernmental organizations, financial institutions, business sector and energy efficiency experts. The second day of the Forum consisted of two parallel workshops, the Workshop on Investments in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Projects, as well as The Green Buildings Workshop.

The Green Buildings Workshop, jointly organized by the UNDP, GEF and UNEP’s Initiative on Sustainable Business and Climate, targeted experts, policy-makers, international and private-sector stakeholders from across the Asia-Pacific and CIS/Central and Eastern European countries. It provided an excellent platform for sharing knowledge and best practices by focusing on policies, technologies and know-how for the building sector specifically highlighting the significant benefits that buildings offer with regard to increasing energy efficiency, climate change mitigation, and promoting green growth.

The workshop also provided a review of cost-effective policies, base-lines for selected countries and the support provided by the various programmes of UN and Governments. The workshop featured specific, hands-on examples of Building Energy Efficiency projects, including the project on Promoting Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings in Uzbekistan. It generated specific recommendations for policy makers on how to capture the significant environmental and economic benefits can be achieved through promoting energy efficiency in buildings.

The joint project of UNDP-GEF and Uzbekistan’s Committee on Architecture and Construction started in late 2009. It is aimed at reducing energy consumption and associated emissions of greenhouse gases in public buildings, particularly in the healthcare and educational sectors in Uzbekistan. The project is unique for Uzbekistan’s context, and it is a part of a network of similar projects in neighboring CIS countries.

Rano Baykhanova, Climate Change Specialist at UNDP Uzbekistan, noted: “The event had a global outreach and offered great opportunities to learn from experiences in overcoming barriers to energy efficiency from other regions of the world. Since the project in Uzbekistan has started recently, it is especially important for us to benefit from knowledge and experiences of neighborhood countries”

At the course of round-table discussions on Energy Efficient Buildings, Kakhramon Usmanov, Manager of Uzbekistan’s project, facilitated an insightful dialogue on the barriers to achieving energy efficiency, related to relatively low cost of traditional energy sources. The issue is faced by a majority of Central Asian and some CIS countries, so participants all contributed with their experiences and ideas.