Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Coal in Sustainable Development - discontinued effective December 2006
(The Committee on Sustainable Energy agreed to establish a new Group, notably "Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Cleaner Electricity Production from Coal and Other Fossil Fuels" effective December 2006 - please click here for additional information.
Recent
Eighth
Session of the Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Coal in Sustainable
Development
2-3 February 2006
| Past
Seventh
Session of the Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Coal in Sustainable
Development
7-8 December 2004
|
Sixth
Session of the Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Coal in Sustainable
Development
17 - 18 a.m. November 2003
| |
Background
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE) carries out a cooperative programme on coal under
t he auspices of the Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Coal in
Sustainable
Development, which was established by the Committee on Sustainable
Energy in November 2002 to succeed the former Ad Hoc Group
of Experts on Coal and Thermal Power. The Ad Hoc Group of
Experts on Coal and Thermal Power had itself been established
in 1997 as the successor body to both the Working Party on
Coal and the Working Party on Electric Power. The coal programme
forms part of the activities of UNECE to promote sustainable
development within the energy sector and to enhance international
economic cooperation in order to achieve this goal.
Aims
Coal is expected to remain the dominant fuel
for electricity generation in the world as a whole, and in
particular in many countries in central and eastern Europe,
for a considerable time in the future. However, the opportunities
for coal in this market will depend upon the ability of coal
to remain a competitive source of energy in terms of both
environmental viability/acceptability and security of supply.
The cooperative programme, therefore, has two key aims:
- to assist countries in the restructuring
of their coal sectors in order to improve economic efficiency
and market orientation; and
- to advance and foster the uptake and the
use of appropriate cleaner coal technologies in the full
coal to energy chain.
As with all UNECE pogrammes, particular attention
is paid to facilitating the integration of the countries in
central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union into
the European and global economies.
The coal programme also focuses on the role
for coal in the context of the three pillars of sustainable
development, notably economic, social and environmental, as
well as on issues relating to improving the public image and
acceptance of coal within the ECE region.
Benefits
Participation in the cooperative programme on
coal in sustainable development as carried out by UNECE is
open to governmental and non-governmental entities from the
UNECE region, together with other areas of the world concerned
with and interested in any sector of the coal to energy chain.
The programme regularly brings together representatives of
government, industry, finance, trade, research and other sectors
of the economy and society in order to: obtain information,
exchange experiences, make professional contacts, establish
business relations and debate and find solutions to the critical
issues confronting decision-makers in the coal and thermal
power industries and related sectors in eastern and western
Europe and other regions of the world. The focus is on issues
such as government policies, environmental regulations, technical,
economic, social and financial aspects of restructuring, industry
decentralization, liberalization, privatization and globalization
and their impact on coal in power generation.
Activities
The activities include: expert meetings; workshops/seminars;
study tours; advisory missions; occasional surveys and studies;
and harmonization of standards and practices on a range of
subjects including technical and managerial aspects and prospects
for coal in mining, preparation, combustion, rehabilitation
of existing thermal power plants, increasing thermal efficiency,
utilization and disposal of residues and by-products from
coal mining and coal combustion.
The Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Coal in Sustainable
Development meets once annually, normally in November at the
time of the annual session of its parent body, the Committee
on Sustainable Energy.
Further Information
Further information on the Ad Hoc Group of Experts
on Coal in Sustainable Development is available on the "Documents"
and "Meetings" sections of this website. |