Photo credit: Geerd-Olaf Freyer

Transcription

1 This presentation will focus on internationalcommunication on renewable energies, that is on how countries that do more or move faster on renewable energy can communicate about this to audiences in their neighboring countries and other key countries around the world. Photo credit: Geerd-Olaf Freyer 1

2 We have recently conducted a survey about the Energiewende with leading experts from our international network. The interviewees came from WRI s extensive global network of senior decision makers and thought leaders. Most of them work on energy and climate issues and our sample has a certain bias towards proenvironmental or pro-renewables views. We also included WRI colleagues from different countries. Key findings included: Germany is seen as a leaderon renewable energieswith very ambitious and progressive policies and a strong track record. There is only limited knowledge on exact targets and performance to date. Most respondents support the direction of the transition in Germany. Most also had questions as to whether it could be implemented. Respondents are interested in a range of issues, including industry creation and innovation, the impact of the FIT, maintaining a strong economy, energy security, trajectory of the solar FIT, a potential return to coal, variability, intermittency and storage. Photo credit: 350.org, Marcel Mettelsiefen 2

3 We recommend that communication focus less on the Why and more on the What, the How and the Results. We find that overall, there is a good understanding of why Germany has chosen the Energiewende. Our respondents mention a number of elements that are also frequently mentioned by German experts and political observers, including economic advantages, energy security, climate change and political factors including public opinion and strategic choices by the Merkel government. Respondents assign different weight to these factors, but so do German experts. There is no one right answer here. On the What, we find that our respondents have a good sense of the general direction Germany is taking, but need more information about what exactly is being planned or already happening, as mentioned above. We find that most questions are around the How. People would like to know how exactly Germany is putting its targets into practice and expect that this area is the one where there will the most lessons that could be applicable to their national contexts as well. Regarding results or impacts, many of our respondents have an overall feeling that so far, Germany s policies have been successful in terms of increased renewable power generation, job creation etc. However, there clearly is a large need for more data and information about this. It should also be noted that people are interested in both: A comprehensive story of what happened in Germany, covering all four aspects(why, What, How, Results) as wellas much more detailed answers on the How and the Results. 3

4 All of our respondents said Germany should communicate about its experiences internationally. They believe there will be relevant lessons for their country, but the areas of interest are different depending on the context. Examples include that the Chinese respondents were more interested in the overall plan for the transition, while Americans had more specific questions on aspects of the implementation. Japanese asked about how phase-out of nuclear was possible, Americans asked about jobs/industry creation through renewable energies and about the links to the steel and car industries,brazilians about how to build out renewables other than large hydro and Indians about equity and socio-economic impacts. Photo credit: Windwärts Energie GmbH / Photographer: Mark Mühlhaus/attenzione 4

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9 WRI is interested in further developing ideas on effective communication of the Energiewende to international audiences. Please contact us if you have further questions: Jennifer Morgan, Program Director, Climate and Energy Program, Lutz Weischer, Analyst, Climate and Energy Program, The World Resources Institute is a global environmental think tank that goes beyond research to put ideas into action. We work with governments, companies, and civil society to build solutions to urgent environmental challenges. WRI s transformative ideas protect the earth and promote development because sustainability is essential to meeting human needs and fulfilling human aspirations in the future. WRI spurs progress by providing practical strategies for change and effective tools to implement them. We measure our success in the form of new policies, products, and practices that shift the ways governments work, companies operate, and people act. We operate globally because today s problems know no boundaries. We are avid communicators because people everywhere are inspired by ideas, empowered by knowledge, and moved to change by greater understanding. We provide innovative paths to a sustainable planet through work that is accurate, fair, and independent. 9

10 Photo credit: flickr/pgegreenenergy 9

11 The interviewees came from WRI s extensive global network of senior decision makers and thought leaders. Most of them work on energy and climate issues and our sample has a certain bias towards pro-environmental or pro-renewables views. Our external experts included: a Chinese academic working on climate and energy policy at the provincial level, an Indian think tank researcher, a Brazilian NGO representative, a Mexican policymaker, a South African NGO representative, a Japanese think tank researcher, a Japanese NGO representative, a senior decision maker at the World Bank, a representative of a development think tank, two U.S. business representatives, a think tank researcher from the U.S. Midwest and one U.S. policymaker.in addition, we interviewed17 WRicolleaguesfrom China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, Namibia, Sri Lanka and the UK. Interviews were conductedin April and May 2012 bytelephone(8), (12) and in person(10). 10

12 We have recently conducted a survey about the Energiewende with leading experts from our international network. The purpose was twofold: First, we wanted to test our assumption that there is international interest in what is happening in Germany and that experts believe that there are lessons from the German experience that might be relevant for their country. Second, we wanted to know more about what people already know and what questions they would like answered, in order to be able to think about what international communication about the Energiewende might look like. In our survey, we asked five questions: 1. Can you briefly summarize what you know about Germany s national energy and climate targets, strategies and policies? 2. Do you know why Germany has decided to follow this energy pathway? 3. What is your overall assessment of Germany s national climate and energy policies would you say that they are taking the country in the right direction and are achievable or are you more skeptical about their merit and/or likelihood of success? 4. If you could ask a German expert one question about the one aspect of the German attempts to transition to a nuclear-free and low-carbon economy that 11

13 most interest you, what would it be? 5. What should Germany do, if anything, to share its strategy and experiences in the energy transition with other countries Photo credit: Windwärts Energie GmbH / Photographer: Mark Mühlhaus/attenzione 11

14 The interviewees came from WRI s extensive global network of senior decision makers and thought leaders. Most of them work on energy and climate issues and our sample has a certain bias towards pro-environmental or pro-renewables views. Our external experts included: a Chinese academic working on climate and energy policy at the provincial level, an Indian think tank researcher, a Brazilian NGO representative, a Mexican policymaker, a South African NGO representative, a Japanese think tank researcher, a Japanese NGO representative, a senior decision maker at the World Bank, a representative of a development think tank, two U.S. business representatives, a think tank researcher from the U.S. Midwest and one U.S. policymaker.in addition, we interviewed17 WRicolleaguesfrom China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, Namibia, Sri Lanka and the UK. Interviews were conductedin April and May 2012 bytelephone(8), (12) and in person(10). 12

15 We found that the knowledge on what exactly is planned in Germany is limited. Out of 23 respondents (excluding 7 WRI colleagues that were interviewed in a group interview), most mentioned that there were targets on renewable energy (16), greenhouse gas emissions reduction (15), and phasing out of nuclear energy (15). Energy efficiency targets are much less prominent; only 5 respondents mention them. While most of our respondents knew that there were targets, they didn t know at which level these targets had been set. Only 5 respondents knew the correct level of the climate, renewable energy and nuclear phase out targets, and only 2 of those also named the correct level of energy efficiency targets. Many answers were quite off in terms of the actual level of ambition in the Energiewende. The renewable energy target was estimated to be anywhere between 50 and 100 percent in 2050 (it is currently set at 80 percent). One respondent said that Germany was not going to reach its Kyoto emissions reduction target by 2012 (while actually, it has already been reached ahead of schedule). When asked what she knew about German energy and climate policy, another respondent (from China) replied Nothing comes to mind, except the feed-in-tariff. While the knowledge is limited, it is generally recognized that Germany is a leaderon renewable energies and emissions reductions. Germany s policies were frequently classified as ambitious, progressive and showing leadership for the world. Photo credit: 350.org, Marcel Mettelsiefen 13

16 When asked about their overall assessment of the Energiewende, the most frequent answer our 13 external respondents gave was that they thought the Germany was going in the right direction, but that they had questions about the feasibility (5 were positiveabout the merits and skeptical about feasibility, 4 were unambiguously positive about both the merits and the feasibility, 2 considered it a mixed bag, 1 was skeptical, 1 didn t know). While there is a lot of optimism that Germany is particularly well positioned to undertake this fundamental transition we were frequently told if anyone can do it, it's the Germans respondents often pointed out that the scale of the challenge was huge one interviewee compared it to reunification and that they were not sure it could be done. Photocredit: flickr/pgegreenenergy 14

17 Wehave identified a list of themes that our respondents were most interested in. This includes both the answers to our question If you could ask a German expert one question about the one aspect of the German attempts to transition to a nuclear-free and low-carbon economy that most interest you, what would it be?, as well as issues mentioned in other parts of the interview. Issues mentioned by three or more respondents were: industry creation/innovation 9 importance of FIT/impacts of FIT8 maintaining a strong economy/competitive industrial base 7 energy security/import dependence (increased or reduced?) 7 solar FIT reductions/future of German solar industry 7 return to coal6 variability/intermittency/baseload/storage 6 integration in European energy system 5 building political support/dealing with resistance 5 achieving climate goals despite nuclear phase out 5 (smart) grid5 costs/consumer impacts 5 replicability 4 job creation3 contribution of energy efficiency 3 role of government strategy and policy tools3 distribution of costs and benefits 3 storage3 international support for/investment in RE 3 15

18 Most questions are centered around the how. While the overall story is interesting and relevant for many people, they have quite specific questions on how targets are actually being implemented. It is important to note that there are several dimensions to the how that go beyond purely technical details. We indentified three dimensions: 1) Policy: Which tools does the government use to implement the targets? How do policies such as the feed-in tariff work in detail? 2) Implementation: How are are the financial and technical issues addressed, for example financing models, grid management, storage, intermittency of certain renewable resources, integration in the European energy system etc. 3) Politics: Who participated in the decision making, how was resistance from certain industry interests overcome, how were the losers compensated? 16