On Thursday, January 25, 2017, at the headquarters of the National Assembly of Ecuador, OLADE and the Parliamentary Group of Energy, Development and Environment of the Assembly held a dialogue on energy efficiency regulation and institutionality, framed in the fulfillment of the sustainable development objectives established by the United Nations-UN.
In this context, the Executive Secretary of OLADE, Alfonso Blanco, spoke about the relevance of energy efficiency in meeting the objectives of sustainable development, particularly objectives 7, 11, 12 and 13, which correspond to: Affordable and non-polluting energy, Sustainable cities and communities, Responsible production and consumption and Climate action, respectively. During his presentation he showed the important aspects to be considered, based on the experience in the countries of the region.
“Energy efficiency is not a matter of inauguration protocols, it is a necessary long-term path; encouragement and regulation are mandatory tools. Energy efficiency gradually began to play on a role in the energy policy of nations, giving the energy sector the necessary dimension to act on the demand side,” said OLADE’s Executive Secretary, Alfonso Blanco, during his speech.
As part of the conclusions, the Executive Secretary mentioned that an analysis of needs and gaps should be made at the normative and legislative level, in order to design specific instruments based on these barriers that generate a framework that provides flexibility and is clear at the level of conceptual definition.
Assemblyman César Rohón, member of the Parliamentary Group, said in his speech that “technology is moving forward very quickly and we cannot remain behind. We must build fundamental agreements for the care of nature and human development. When we talk about 2030, we are very close to that date. However we are not making enough progress. We must not stop. We have to generate work tables and agreements between the legislators, the company, and the government. Ecuador is a developing country and needs to be efficient. “ At the same time, he recalled that the Assembly ratified last year the Paris Agreement on climate change that will contribute to this issue.
Assemblyman Esteban Albornoz, president of the Parliamentary Group on Energy, Development, and Environment of the National Assembly of Ecuador, thanked OLADE for his support in this dialogue and stressed the importance of responsible legislation in energy matters, in which should participate the institutions of the energy sector at the national level.
The meeting was attended by the Executive Director of the National Center for Energy Control (CENACE), the Director of Policy and Planning of the Ministry of Electricity of Ecuador, the Executive Director of the National Institute of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (INER), among other Authorities of the Ecuadorian State.