Ambassadors blogging in Jordan

My good friend and colleague James Watt, UK ambassador to Jordan has joined the ranks of blogging ambassadors in Jordan. That makes us two so far – hope I haven’t missed anyone Check out his blog - it looks very promising and he has had good feedback. Welcome to the Jordanian Blogosphere James - keep it up…

The Terminator goes to Copenhagen…

where he will meet Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Wen Jiabao, Luis Lula, Philippe Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel, Saad Hariri and one hundred other Heads of State and Government to help solving the Climate Change Challenge.

Investigative Journalism

I have deep respect for the work of investigative journalists. They often work under very difficult circumstances – risking persecution, law suits and harassment. But investigative journalism is indispensable. We have a saying in my country: The tabloids keep the democracy clean. Journalists are the ones that make sure that the authorities are held accountable for their actions – or lack of action.

In my part of the World, the relationship between journalists and officials has generally been tricky – it is like a love/hate relationship – without much love. Within the public sector many used to live by the saying: “I have the right to remain silent – otherwise I will be misquoted and my statement used against me”. Very few had any interest in speaking to journalists for exact this reason and because speaking to journalists would never ever do you any good in your career. If you where so unlucky to actually talk to a journalist and if – god forbid – you actually got quoted for something – you could be quite sure that the upper ranks were not amused.

This phenomenon is changing in many ways. For start, we know that is it no longer possible to keep a lid on stories. Freedom of speech for public servants as well as for everyone else, the right of access to documents and a generally very high standard of investigative journalism makes it pointless to try to hide information that mostly is available if you know how to look. History has also thought us that it is not the misdeed itself that makes a government fall or cost civil servants their career. No, it is the cover-up after something has been discovered that bring down governments. So the lesson is quite clear – if an investigative journalist is on to something it is generally better to take the issue seriously – maybe even cooperate – in order to try to solve the problem before it is too late. The story will go to press anyway. Journalists would probably say that the government is trying to outsmart them. I would say it is a more professional way of dealing with the press.

I know this reality is very far from the one that investigative journalists are facing in this region but for governments and states that take freedom of press and freedom of speech seriously they have to go down this road. And don’t worry – there will still be stories to investigate.

There is another phenomenon that also is changing. Journalists on established media are no longer alone in doing investigative reporting. New media is transforming the landscape and traditional journalists now face competition from bloggers, You Tubers and informal networks and NGO’s. For the printed press the outlook is not rosy at all. But as with all competition there is also an opportunity – and the opportunity is to be better, be more relevant, and in particular to become much more credible.

Credibility has very much to do with skills and techniques. If a critical investigative story is based on good journalistic research and sound criticism of sources it will become irrefutable. And with increased credibility the readers will come back. Yesterday, to my great interest I heard that Al Masri al Yawm as a result of their recent investigative reporting on the pollution of the Nile had had a substantial increase in sales. Readers want that kind of stories. And this is exactly why government-owned press and papers will face a hard time – they will not be credible in investigating their owners.

We have been told, that “for freedom of press – the sky is the limit”. As Danish ambassador I cannot be more in agreement with that statement – and it saddens me to see, that according to Jordanian journalists themselves, self-censorship is the common rule. Self-censorship is to do the dirty work for the otherwise would-be censors - how can we then reach the sky? It is not enough to stand on our toes – we have to build the ladder ourself.

We have also been told that the level of criticism and boldness in articles should be matched by an equal level of research techniques, fact check and scrutiny. This is a crucial point and not only for investigative journalism. Because what use is freedom of the press if journalists are not capable of conducting proper research? We all have agendas that we want to promote. Good journalists know that and take this into account when researching and writing their articles. I am sorry to say that – based on a number of personal experiences in Jordan – this is not always the case in Jordan. Sources are accepted at face value and let far too easy off the hook. Add to this that systematically fact checking of numbers, dates, names etc. is often absent in articles.

Maybe other journalists should take one of the ARIJ classes on how to prepare for that crucial confronting mother-of-all-interviews? Or at least read and learn from the manual ARIJ published yesterday (.pdf – and really worth a read)

This brings me to ARIJ. Last year we celebrated the first ARIJ conference for Investigative Journalism in the Arab region. It was a milestone and rightly praised by Tim Sebastian in an article in New York Times. This year is also a tribute to all who care for good, professional, solid and not least credible journalism in a region where that is not a given thing.

On the Danish side we are very proud to be part of the ARIJ project since its inception in 2004 through a number of Danish institutions and foremost among them International Media Support.

The team that ARIJ have put together, from the extremely qualified persons on the board over the outstanding and high profile trainers participating in this year’s conference to the amazing general manager Rana Sabbagh is second to none. The mere fact that ARIJ have been able to get such an outstanding group of people involved is a clear sign of its success – and of its necessity both for the region but also for the profession. As I said – the competition is fierce and the product has to become better. Investigative journalism is one of the areas where the traditional press still can have an edge. And it is needed for the sake of society.

(Excerpts of a speech on the occasion of the second Conference for Investigative Journalism in the Arab Region on November 21st)

The Danish Wind Power Case

Looking for answers to some of the most common questions about wind power and how to integrate it into the local energy mix – also when the wind is not blowing? Watch this

and read this.

Seize the Energy Opportunity

See, the glass is half-full…

From Jordan Times today:

Seize the energy opportunity 

By Anders Eldrup

All eyes are now on Copenhagen, where the UN Climate Change Conference will take place in December. But there is another reason to look to Denmark. In order to meet the challenges of climate change and energy security, all actors must focus on the opportunities that lie in the broad and fundamental change that society must undergo. The Danish energy sector has already once turned a huge challenge into an opportunity.

When the first oil crisis hit in 1973, Denmark was 90 per cent dependent on oil and over 90 per cent of that oil was imported. Such a situation was not sustainable. A national consensus emerged from the crisis that Denmark’s energy sector had to be transformed in order to secure future energy supply.

So Denmark started exploring for oil and gas in the Danish part of the North Sea. Coal and gas replaced oil in power plants and major programmes to improve energy efficiency were launched. Today, Danish power plants are among the world’s most efficient with efficiency rates around 45 per cent. If all power plants had such efficiency levels, global power plant carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced by 30 per cent. Many plants were converted to allow them to produce power and district heating at the same time. This elevated power plant efficiency to 94 per cent. Danish energy consumption has remained almost stable since 1981 due to such initiatives while GDP has risen by 70 per cent.

Energy producers also started to use large quantities of carbon dioxide-neutral biomass on power plants. Finally, Denmark started to develop wind energy, which today accounts for 20 per cent of Denmark’s power production.

Securing reliable energy supplies was the key energy challenge of the 20th century. It will remain a major challenge in the 21st century as global population grows and modern life spreads to more and more people. The other big energy challenge is climate change. Add the two global challenges, and you have a Gordian knot: We have to produce much more energy with much less carbon dioxide.

This is a challenge, but it is also a huge business opportunity. If seized, it can spark an unprecedented wave of innovation that can fuel economic growth. Energy companies are among the best placed to seize the new business opportunities exactly because the energy sector is the most exposed to the global challenges.

One clear business opportunity lies in replacing fossil fuels with carbon dioxide-neutral energy. Clear emissions reduction targets are necessary to drive this development. DONG Energy has set a target to reduce the emissions from power and heat production with 85 per cent by 2040 and with 50 per cent by 2020. The target is to be achieved through expanding wind power and by replacing coal with biomass on power plants.

But climate change is not limited to the energy sector. Agriculture, forestry, transport, buildings and industry also contribute heavily to global warming. Greenhouse gasses must also be reduced in these sectors – in this quest the energy company can be a strategic partner. The business opportunities for energy producers lie in low-carbon energy. They also lie in pursuing a new role, where the energy company engages with actors from all sectors of society to reduce emissions by finding new ways of combining what is already known.

In agriculture and forestry the energy company can find different types of biomass that can be used in energy production. Today, wood chips, wood pellets and half of the straw produced in Danish agriculture are used to produce power and heat at Danish power plants.

In transportation, the energy company can combine enzymes with biomass and produce a carbon-neutral alternative to oil. This is what DONG Energy is doing on one of the world’s first demonstration plant for second generation bioethanol, the Inbicon Biomass Refinery in Denmark. The result is second generation bioethanol produced from residuals from agriculture such as straw.

Similarly in transport, the fast development of battery technology offers new opportunities. If you take a battery and put four wheels on it you have an electric vehicle that can serve as a much-needed storage for wind energy. This paves the way for more wind energy in the energy system. DONG Energy has invested in Project Better Place Denmark and is contributing to the development of a Danish infrastructure for electric vehicles.

In buildings and industry there are opportunities in changing the way energy is used. Traditionally energy production has followed energy consumption. When private or industry consumers chose to switch on more light, power plants simply had to work harder. This picture is changing.

Every day more intermittent wind energy is deployed and in the not so distant future we will also see much more local energy production – for example from solar panels on buildings. Gradually energy production is becoming more difficult to control. Energy consumption will consequently have to take place when energy production is high. It is now the use of energy in industry and buildings that will have to be controlled. A smart grid will provide for the communications channel through which appliances in household and industry will know when to switch on and off. By pursuing such new business opportunities the energy company can contribute to untying the Gordian knot and produce low-carbon energy and maintain energy security at the same time.

Rightly so, the global challenges from climate change and energy security dwarf the change Denmark went through in scope and in urgency. Nevertheless, the Danish answer to the first oil crisis, which led to massive innovation in energy technology, can serve to inspire to act. What seems an almost insurmountable challenge is in fact a business opportunity waiting to be seized.

The writer is CEO of Dong Energy. ©Project Syndicate, 2009. www.project-syndicate.org