This year’s EU Low Carbon Economy Tour will give a select group of American energy policy experts, engaged in promoting cross-party solutions in American energy and environmental policy, the opportunity to study the economic and ecological benefits of Europe’s transition to clean energy. Meetings and project visits in Berlin, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Malmö, Sweden, will concentrate on how renewable energy, energy efficiency and innovation contribute to energy independence and security in Europe. The tour will take place September 7-12, 2014.
In Berlin the tour will assess the current state of the German Energiewende, or energy transition, and discuss its successes to date, such as strengthening local economies, increasing distributed generation and citizen ownership of energy production. Challenges will also be addressed, such as reforming the EU Emissions Trading System and the reasons for the reason increase in coal consumption. In Copenhagen, the European Green Capital for 2014, the focus will be on sustainability, the growth of the Danish clean energy industry, and energy independence. Finally, in Malmö the tour will visit Swedish companies that exemplify the role innovation plays in a green economy.
Through a series of meetings with government officials, lawmakers, representatives from business, industry and trade associations, and policy centers, the American experts will explore best practices in European policy – at the EU, national and local levels – that may be informative for policy discussions in the United States.
The study tour is part of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Transatlantic Energy and Climate Network, a project funded by the European Union and committed to strengthening dialogue between Americans and Europeans to advance a sustainable clean energy economy on both sides of the Atlantic.
You can follow live tweets from the tour by using #TECN14!