Moving beyond oil – energy alternatives
editBianca 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.

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.

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.

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;
- Kunihiko Shimada, key Japanese climate expert and negotiator ;
- Lord Mogg, British Energy Regulator, Chairman of Ofgem;
- Kausea Natano, Government Minister from Tuvalu in the Pacific whose country wants to be carbon neutral by 2020;
- Bianca Jagger, human rights, social justice and climate change advocate;
- Other policy specialists and politicians from countries including China, India, Mexico, Namibia and Norway




Further information
Transiting to a low carbon economy: how to make successful policy and regulation happen
Useful links
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEP)
International Confederation of Energy Regulators
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