The fourteenth session of the UN commission on sustainable development: The energy session

The fourteenth session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-14) convened 1–12 May 2006, at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, for the first year in a two-year cycle of debates focusing on energy for sustainable development, industrial development, air pollution/atmosphere, and climate change. Specifically, CSD-14’s mandate was to undertake an evaluation of progress in implementing Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 agreed at the ‘Rio + 5’ meeting in 1997, and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, while focusing on identifying barriers and constraints, lessons learned, and best practices in implementation in the thematic cluster.
Representatives of governments, civil society, and international organisations undertook a review of the thematic issues with a view to returning to these subjects at CSD-15 in 2007, when policy recommendations will be formally negotiated. The CSD-14 review discussions have been captured in a two-part report produced by the chair of CSD-14, Aleksi Aleksishvili, Georgia’s minister of finance. Alongside the formal intergovernmental discussions, CSD-14 hosted a partnerships fair, learning centre, and side events to provide an opportunity for sustainable development stakeholders to share best practices and conduct expert seminars.
This profile will focus on the intergovernmental discussions, setting out a number of the key issues that appear in the chairman’s report alongside a commentary on the debates behind them. In line with the prominence given to the issue at the CSD, there will be an emphasis on energy for sustainable development and energy security. The profile will conclude with some comments on the prospects for CSD-15, when representatives return to the issues first addressed at CSD-14 and commence negotiations on policy recommendations.

Doran P, Van Alstine J (2007), Environmental Politics16, pp.130-141.