This workshop will showcase the newly-developed Regional Roadmaps for Africa, Asia, and Latin America, developed by the GlobalABC and the IEA, and built on inputs from over 700 regional stakeholders and global experts outlining key actions and timelines for the decarbonization of the built environment. Participants will discuss how the roadmaps can be instruments for framing the debate at regional, national and local level to implement strong, forward-looking policies and technologies.
Linking policy and practice for clean energy transitions across sectors
Agora Energiewende and the International Energy Agency (IEA) are hosting a public event to discuss global perspectives for energy systems integration. The current trend towards electrifying transport, heating and industry represents a unique opportunity to decarbonise sectors, previously seen as hard to abate in terms of emissions. This, along with key resources such as hydrogen, contributes to broadening the scope of options to integrate ever greater shares of variable renewable energy (VRE) and accelerate the decarbonisation of the wider energy system. This event will shed light on the opportunities and challenges integrating electric vehicles into the power system and of synthetic fuel production and use.
Cooperation on transnational grid infrastructure can drive the global energy transition by opening up national energy markets for the export and import of cheap electricity produced by renewables. As a result of plummeting electricity prices due to renewables, renewables themselves will become increasingly attractive for markets that are currently still dominated by conventional power generation. In addition, transnational grid infrastructure can foster regional stability while curbing current geopolitical dependencies in energy. It can help to dissolve and prevent energy isolation and asymmetric energy dependencies alike.
However, this comes with new vulnerabilities. As the energy transition promises a future free of carbon-related geopolitics, grid infrastructure is increasingly targeted by hybrid warfare interventions. Ranging from cyberattacks to complex and highly coordinated disinformation campaigns, such interventions aim to prevent any political consensus on the build-up of transnational grid infrastructure by influencing the opinion of entire populations.
It may prove difficult to achieve the complete decarbonisation of various industrial sectors such as buildings, power or transport purely by means of electricity. One of the major advantages of hydrogen is that it is a versatile all-rounder for a host of applications. Renewable electricity can be used to produce hydrogen, which in turn can provide energy. Moreover, hydrogen produced from renewable electricity using electrolyser could facilitate the integration of high levels of variable renewable energy into the energy system, offering a flexible load and providing grid-balancing services.
Hydrogen could therefore be the missing link in the energy transition. As key hydrogen technologies are maturing (fuel cell vehicles, syngas etc.), hydrogen from renewables can help tackle various critical energy challenges. In particular, it could offer ways to decarbonise a range of sectors where it is proving difficult to meaningfully reduce CO2 emissions. All these aspects require the implementation of a forward-looking legal, political and technical regulatory framework.
This session will provide an overview of challenges and opportunities entailed in the large-scale application of hydrogen technologies.
The energy transition requires regional cooperation among EU Member States and with third countries in order to tap into the full potential of renewable energy. The North Sea Offshore Grid is one key example of a regional cooperation scheme. In 2010, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherland, Sweden, the United-Kingdom (joined by Norway a year later) to facilitate the efficient use of renewable energy and the building of new infrastructure for a North Sea Offshore Grid.
In 2017, Morocco, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal signed a roadmap on sustainable electricity trade, in the presence of the European Commission, aimed at identifying the barriers to renewable electricity trade between the five countries across the Mediterranean Sea.
The goal of this session will be to use these two examples to explore the role of regional cooperation schemes on renewable energy in view of reaching the 2030 renewable energy target.
There is a global agreement on reaching climate neutrality by 2050. To achieve this, the world needs a Global Green Deal with the transformation of the energy system at its heart. There is no middle way when it comes to combating emissions, and more than just energy is involved. One cannot argue with physics. How can we make economies and societies climate neutral? What are the implications for global trade? Which framework is needed to trigger a wide-ranging green stimulus? How will it change supply chains? How can we deliver on the different responsibilities and options of the global North and South? The transition to a green economy must be integrative, inclusive and holistic. What are the most promising concepts and what should be the next steps towards green transformation?
Conference Venue
Federal Foreign Office
Unterwasserstraße 10
10117 Berlin
Germany
Contact BETD-Team
+49 30 88 66 74 0 60
info(at)energydialogue.berlin
