In 2018, I developed and implemented the idea for a worldwide network of parliamentarians who are committed to 100% renewable energies together with a team from the World Future Council in Hamburg. Since then, I have been the chairperson. I also do this on an honorary basis.
Renewable energy is better than coal and oil
We know that renewable energies are cheaper than oil or coal, that the sun and the wind do not write a bill, so a country with renewable energies makes itself less dependent on expensive fossil imports, renewable energies are installed very quickly, a lot of jobs and income for the local population can be created with it and they are also climate-friendly. In addition, women in particular benefit from decentralized solutions.
Despite the many advantages, renewable energies are not yet asserting themselves quickly enough against fossil solutions, because the lobby has a lot of influence and their advertising for large-scale projects still catches up with the politicians.
Parliamentariens are the bridge
Parliamentarians therefore play a major role in the development of decentralised systems. They are the bridge between the local level, which benefits from renewable energies, and the national level. They can remove existing blockages, restrictions or other disadvantages for renewable energies through the corresponding legislation. The decisive factor is the political will to rely on renewable energies instead of coal or oil.
With our cross-party network, we offer the exchange of good ideas, conduct studies for individual countries and organize congresses or seminars to develop practical solutions.
Three Examples
In Minnesota, we work with the university, and in particular with the senator who chairs the Energy Committee. For example, he organized a conference with representatives from 11 countries from the USA and Canada, with whom we discussed the advantages of the energy transition for rural areas. Since we find bipartisan work very important, it was a great success that the Republican senator took the initiative to work with his Democratic Energy Committee Chairman from the House of Representatives to develop an energy concept for Minnesota. This initiative was both published in January 2020 in the local newspaper, the month of Biden’s seizure of power at the national level.
In Sierra Leone, thanks to the great commitment of a representative, we held an important conference at which the President gave the opening speech. Representatives of the governments, the parliaments as well as from the economies of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea spent two days discussing how renewable energies can be better anchored in the countries.
In the coming years, we will place a special focus on Asia. We work closely with the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), the association of 48 countries that are particularly affected by the climate crisis. There, we want to work in particular with parliamentarians from Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia and Nepal and take up renewable energies as a solution to the climate crisis in various committees, i.e. also tackle them across sectors.
