[ renewables 2004 ]

Milestone in global
climate protection

[ By Klaus Knecht
and Hinrich Mercker ]

The preparations are in full swing: Structural issues have been widely debated in the International Steering Committee and National Advisory Committee, thematic background papers have been posted on the Internet, a summary of the results of the pre-conference get-togethers and expert debates has been published. Since October 2003, preparatory meetings in Brazil, Kenya, Benin, Thailand and Yemen have underlined the issue at the heart of renewables 2004: the need to push forward global development of renewable energies.

Germany's federal government – which hosts the conference through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) – is expecting more than a thousand participants from all over the world, representing government, business and civil society. Numerous supporting events, exhibitions and study trips will provide participants with food for thought and put the conference issues firmly in the public domain.

Among the results to which the conference aspires is an international action plan detailing voluntary pledges and symbolising the international community's resolve to make greater use of renewable forms of energy. In an international consultation process, discussions have been held since October 2003 on a political declaration and recommendations to policymakers.

During the preparation process, frequent reference has been made to the state subsidies paid for energy from fossil fuels – subsidies which run to 60 billion US dollars a year in the OECD countries and around 50 billion dollars a year in the developing world. The recommendation to policymakers is that renewable energies should receive at least the same level of support.

InWEnt is staging numerous fringe events at the conference. As made plain in the run-up, capacity-building plays a central role in international cooperation for the promotion and use of renewable energies. In the sense of dialogue, training and consultation for personnel and organisational development, capacity-building in the renewable energy sector engages at all levels, partnering individuals, organisations and the political system. InWEnt’s contributions to the conference focus on the productive use of renewable energies and the role of local authorities in the implementation of energy systems for the future.


Renewable energies in rural areas

InWEnt’s “Environment, Energy and Water” division is due to participate in the conference in tandem with the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the KfW Development Bank and the World Bank as co-organiser of an event entitled “Enhancing Productivity in Rural Areas – the Role of Renewable Energies”. Partners from the North and North-East of Brazil will present a project developed jointly with InWEnt.

In a first step, project teams were formed in four communities to identify (through detailed market analysis) goods and services which could be produced or provided at market prices to meet demonstrable demand using renewable energies. The teams advise producers at the manufacturing stage, especially on the choice of system to provide the energy required. Every possible form of energy and economically feasible renewable energy system is considered. What is more, the project teams help producers to acquire the requisite funding and to market their products. They also counsel communities on the economic advantages of making joint use of renewable energy systems.

At a workshop staged ahead of “renewables 2004” in conjunction with the Gelsenkirchen Science Park, InWEnt plans to get together with decision-makers from China, India, Brazil, Namibia and Argentina to consider the primary objectives that need to be met to provide a sustainable power supply in the individual countries. These could be:

diversification of the energy offered, thus lowering dependence on oil imports
generation of income for business community and state by creating domestic systems or system components for harnessing renewable energy
Also tabled for discussion are the pros and cons of a largely privately owned energy supply sector as well as the issue of whether governments should de- or re-regulate. Where private power generators have been licensed in national markets, the way access to the grid is regulated will be another topic for debate.

InWEnt is also co-hosting the “Second World Renewable Energy Forum: Renewing Civilization by Renewable Energy“, scheduled for May 29 – 31 in Bonn. As part of the conference programme, InWEnt will present its thoughts on a global capacity-building strategy for renewable energies.

renewables 2004 will also provide an occasion for InWEnt to discuss increased economic cooperation with representatives of the wind power industry in Germany and its partner countries as well as with project planners from countries with favourable wind conditions. The long-term aim is to ensure a stable network for a constant transfer of expertise and efficient joint ventures focused on energy system production, maintenance and operation.

To emphasise the importance of the role local government plays in implementing renewable energies and creating energy-efficiency models, InWEnt's “Communities in One World” service agency will stage an international forum for mayors – “Local Renewables 2004” – on May 30/31 at the invitation of the mayor of Bonn. More than 50 local politicians and decision-makers will assemble to compare notes on obstacles to the use of renewable energies and approaches that have already been tried and have worked.

Participants in “Local Renewables 2004“ will attend the international conference as observers, with a number of selected participants acting as representatives of local government in the conference's Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue (MSD). Their role as delegates will be to express the views of local authorities. “Local Renewables 2004” will pass a “Local Governments’ Renewables Declaration”, setting out the basics of local authority views on an energy policy for the future. Along with consequent requirements, proposals and pledges, its message will be conveyed to the international conference with the support of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI).

A draft version of the “Local Governments' Renewables Declaration” has been circulating since March in international networks and associations of municipal authorities. Comments and pledges by municipal and rural district authorities are now being sought worldwide and studied as requirements to be met by national and international policymakers.


Investing in
renewable energies

In the run-up to the renewables 2004 conference, German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul called on the World Bank to increase the funds it commits to the renewable energy sector. This was after the World Bank had asked former Indonesian environment minister Emil Salim to review its activities in the raw materials sector (“Extractive Industries Review”). His report, presented in January this year, calls on the bank to channel more money into renewable energy projects. By 2008, it says, the World Bank should stop promoting fossil-fuel energy and invest the funds in renewable energies instead.

The recently unveiled report of the German government's Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), “Renewable energies for sustainable development – Stimuli for renewables 2004”, recommends that ambitious targets should be set across the EU for the development of renewable energies by 2050. The WBGU believes a “switch to sustainability on the energy front” would release 2.4 billion people from energy poverty by giving them access to modern forms of energy. Spreading renewable energies thus makes an active contribution to poverty reduction – something else for which renewables 2004 will provide food for thought and ideas for action.

For more information:
http://www.renewables2004.de/
http://www.localrenewables2004.de
Hinrich Mercker
is director of InWEnt’s “Environment, Energy and Water” division in Berlin and represents InWEnt in the “renewables 2004” National Advisory Committee. hinrich.mercker@inwent.org

Klaus Knecht
is senior project manager responsible for
“Energy and Climate Protection” projects in InWEnt's “Environment, Energy and Water”
division in Berlin. klaus.knecht@inwent.org