The role of energy efficiency for a secure, competitive and sustainable energy

Occurred at different historical moments and among evolving international scenarios, the several Conferences on environment and sustainable development issues had in common one single aim: the energy revolution, required to compensate for the limitations of fossil fuels and to ward off catastrophic environmental damage. Because these issues are, by their very nature, cross-border and global, and in front of a highly globalized world, solutions and necessary measures have been sought through close international cooperation.

Conferences on the environment and on sustainable development convened and supported by the General Assembly of the United Nations are the most representative in the awareness campaign on environmental issues. The first step in this direction came with a Resolution of the GA in 1968 entitled "Problems of the human environment", wherewith it was decided to organize an international conference to discuss these issues four years later. The General Assembly expressed its concern about the impact of human activities increasingly influential on the environment. Worried about the degenerative aspects on a wide sphere of human rights as well as the correct process of economic and social development, it was decided to deal with this problem by convening in Stockholm the first important Summit on the Human Environment in 1972.

The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment of Stockholm proved to be a turning point in the international approach, though not enough to create a real international environmental law. Anyhow, despite the difficulties in dealing with an unusual theme for the international community as a whole, and despite the differences of intent expressed by the various countries, the conference took place without any major problems and produced three extremely important results:

• The drafting of the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment: the declaration, structured in accordance with 26 principles, states, for the first time, the importance of the environment for the well-being and the full enjoyment of human rights and the need for a rational use of resources. It is also emphasized man's duty to protect the environment for the benefit of present and future generations and the central role of states in preventing pollution and in development of the developing countries, through financial assistance and the exchange of technology and know-how.

• The implementation of an Action Plan for the Human Environment: several recommendations are provided to enable the Governments to identify areas of major international concern and to agree on specific measures to deal with them, which should include the allocation of resources and the assignment of responsibilities for their coordination and implementation. The Plan has three components: the global environmental assessment program, or Earthwatch, the environmental management activities, and measures to support national and international action of assessment and management.

• The constitution of a subsidiary body of the UN focused on the protection of the environment namely the United Nations Environment Programme: UNEP was established following the 1972 conference, and created after the Resolution 2997 (XXVII) of the General Assembly. UNEP was intended as the leading global integration of the environment aspects of sustainable development in the work of the United Nation system. UNEP’s mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. This mission statement reveals that UNEP’s role is a catalytic one, in the sense of leveraging and enabling other to act in the protection of the environment. In other words, UNEP is not an implementing agency thus cannot sign international treaties and impose mandatory rules, but can only encourage the establishment through memorandum and generic soft law acts.

Other relevant act was the preparation of the Bruntland Report, “Our common future”, issued following the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987. In this report, it is given for the first time a definition of sustainable development: a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional changes are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations. It is recognized the close relationship between environment and development, the need to regulate rights and duties towards the global commons, and the need to overcome the fragmented nature of the institutions. Moreover, it already begins to speak about producing more with less and technologies with increased efficiency. [...]