Moving beyond oil – energy alternatives

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By dxw • 23 Jun 2010

Bianca Jagger called for a “Copernican revolution” in moving beyond carbon to a decentralized, sustainable energy system.

Transiting to a low carbon economy: how to make successful policy and regulation happen

Monday 21 – Thursday 24 June 2010 (WP1036)

In co-operation with the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership and with the support from the International Confederation of Energy Regulators and The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London

Renewable energy and energy efficiency are an increasingly vital part of energy supply. The massive oil leak off the US coast has called attention to the environmental and social risks of excessive dependence on oil, coal and gas. The Copenhagen Summit showed how hard it is to get an agreement on climate change.

WP1036 - Morgan with Shimada and Burge — From Left: Richard Morgan, Joint Head, Public Diplomacy and Strategic Campaigns, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London with Kunihiko Shimada, Principal International Policy Coordinator and Negotiator, Global Environment Bureau, Ministry of the Environment, Tokyo andRichard Burge, Chief Executive, Wilton Park

Everyone from the World Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bianca Jagger discussed the need for transition to a low carbon economy at the annual conference on renewable energy staged by Wilton Park and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), 21 – 24 June 2010.

WP1036 - Fiskaa plus 3 — From Left: Leena Srivastava, Executive Director, The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi; Ingrid Fiskaa, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oslo; Manuel de Andrade, Chairperson, Centre for Mozambican and International Studies, Maputo; Rachel English, Founder, Helios Social Enterprise, London

Ms Jagger called for a “Copernican revolution” in moving beyond carbon to a decentralized, sustainable energy system.

Bianca Jagger is Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation; Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador; Member of the Executive Director’s Leadership Council, Amnesty International, USA and Trustee of the Amazon Charitable Trust. Her biography is available to download.

The conference, with strong representation from Asia and the South, called together energy regulators from Italy to India, including Lord Mogg, Chairman of Ofgem.

WP1036 - REEEP — Claude Turmes, Vice President of the Green Group, European Parliament, Brussels with Lord Mogg, Chairman, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM), London

The power of renewable energy as a viable commercial enterprise – even for the “poorest billion” at the “bottom of the pyramid” was stressed by Dipal Barua, who is working to provide 75 million people, half of the population of Bangladesh with solar power cheaper than the cost of kerosene.

The Bright Green Energy Foundation is working to train 100,000 woman entrepreneurs at village level to disseminate the technology.

One session at the conference took participants from Tuvalu in the Pacific – which has no land higher than 5 metres above sea level – to the Himalayas in Nepal. Climate change and the need for cheap, reliable energy are policy challenges in both countries.

Speakers included

Dr Marianne Moscoso-Osterkorn, Head of the Worldwide Network, the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership, and some of her international projects coordinated byBinu Parthan;