Dialogue Agenda

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

The global drive to transition to zero-emissions energy is at the heart of tackling climate change. To achieve the turnaround towards carbon neutrality, countries need to take much more ambitious action in this decade. One of the key fields of action is the transition of the energy sector – from fossil to renewable fuels, while drastically reducing energy consumption. Both consensus scientific predictions and civil society are increasing pressure on governments and businesses for a Net Zero by 2050. The significance of the G20 for a global energy transition towards clean, affordable and sustainable energy is clear: taken together, the G20 countries account for 80% of global primary energy consumption. With their accumulated financial and economic potential, they have the capacity to shape global energy systems.

This high-level session shall discuss options on how to rise to the challenge of our times and how such action can be enhanced through multilateral cooperation.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) meet on the “green sofa” to discuss the current state of the energy transition and share views on their latest analysis on trends in renewables globally.

The two organizations are uniquely qualified to steer the energiewende of the entire planet. The IEA has put accelerating clean energy transitions at the heart of its work, leveraging its full capabilities to support the realization of a transition that is secure, affordable and places particular emphasis on people’s needs and wellbeing.

IRENA, equipped with a global mandate to enable energy transitions, drives the strategic shift towards sustainable energy by providing cutting-edge knowledge, advice and responsible support on technologies, investments, policies and markets.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has spotlighted the geopolitics of fossil fuel dependence. The transition to green energy – be it renewables or green hydrogen – offers an opportunity to reduce dependence on unreliable or volatile suppliers, yet simultaneously creates new interdependencies and power relations. In this panel, we want to look at two sets of risks: those posed by climate change itself, and those sparked by the shifting geopolitics of energy.

When addressing the climate crisis, it is important to design measures in an inclusive and socially equitable manner. Community-owned energy is one practical way to address climate and social challenges simultaneously, by putting energy back in the hands of people and communities. A sustainable energy system requires the support of every sector and every citizen. There is a correlation between the extent to which renewables gain public support and the extent to which they are able to attract adequate private or public investment. Among the social and economic benefits of renewable energies are opportunities for local value creation, responding to growing energy demands and reducing conflicts over water scarcity, aggravated by fossil power generation. Allowing for distributed electricity generation, the rapidly expanding renewable energy world is opening up business models for many, including local communities, citizens and citizens’ cooperatives. Domestic energy policy can shape the enabling environment to seizing the social benefits of renewable energy. While a progressive shift to a low-carbon energy world is to the benefit of the majority of people in the long term, there will be a minority of people who will negatively affected in the short term. A just transition is needed to prevent or reduce these negative aspects.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

Digitalisation is a key enabler for the clean energy transition. The transition to clean energy is picking up pace due to growing pressure from governments, sharply declining costs, and new and improved technologies supporting sustainable energy sourcing, asset management and the integration of renewables into the grid. This session focuses on how to harness the transformative power of new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), high speed internet (5G), and blockchain to successfully put renewables at the core of the power sector.

Which digital solutions will be most crucial to support a sustainable energy transition, and create more resilient, more efficient and cost-effective power storage and transmission networks, and bring their benefits to a broad range of society?

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

It has been established that energy access is essential for bringing people out of poverty. Unfortunately, while strides have been made in recent years, it is estimated that around 1.03 billion people around the world do not have access to electricity. In addition, a comparable number of people lack access to modern, safe, sustainable, affordable and regular electricity supply. Electricity supply can be provided by either centralized grid-based means, or by decentralized methods.

There is no one-size-fits all solution to providing energy and each of the available options operates at different scales and serves different specific needs. Given the declining costs for solar PV, small hydro installations and wind power along with declining costs and rapid technological improvements for electricity storage and control systems, renewable off-grid systems are expected to be an important driver for economic development.

It is encouraging to see that the decentralised renewable energy sector is increasingly being recognised as a key player in efforts to meet the energy needs of critical infrastructure and communities during emergencies. Involving this sector in emergency response can also have long-lasting impacts, helping countries achieve a sustainable recovery, reach their energy access goals in the coming years, and become more resilient to future epidemics and other natural disasters. To realise a transformative impact, it is not enough to secure the necessary financial assistance and governmental support. Interventions also need to be designed to be sustainable in the long run.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

This exclusive high-level ministerial session brings together Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany, Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Kwasi Kwarteng, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy UK to discuss how we should proceed in order to reach SDG7, what interlinkages exist between the SDGs and how to prevent the climate catastrophe.

Svenja Schulze is the newly appointed Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development and has served as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety from 2018 to 2021. As experienced Federal Minister, she possesses a high expertise on environmental protection, just transition and women empowerment.

Kwasi Kwarteng serves as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since 2021. In his role he leads and brings together work on business, science and innovation to unleash investment and growth and possesses important expertise on action to be taken after COP26.

Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC brings more than 30 years of experience at highest levels in international relations, specialized in climate change, global governance, sustainable development, gender equality and protection of human rights.

This talk format is meant to combine the visions of these high-level speakers on how to achieve SDG7 and the different dimensions that must be considered (energy transition, climate change, international cooperation, gender equality, human rights) and to create a bridge between different individual BETD sessions.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

One of the global community’s most significant contemporary challenges is the need to satisfy growing energy demand, while simultaneously achieving very significant reductions in the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the production, delivery, and consumption of energy. The energy sector is transforming via the convergence of power, transportation, and industrial sectors and inter-sectoral integration. As clean energy increasingly becomes part of the national dialogue, lenders, utilities, and lawmakers need the most comprehensive and accurate information on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from various sources of energy to inform policy, planning, and investment decisions.

This high-level session shall provide an overview of the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to sustainable energy systems and technologies.

While the ramp-up of renewable energy worldwide will create jobs up and down the value chain and has the potential to provide sustainable economic growth, there is an acute shortage of skilled labor in the sector, particularly in markets set to grow exponentially in coming years. Education of expert workers is essential in fighting the global climate crisis. Hence, specialists must be trained to be capable of acting competently in all the important areas of application.

When governments plan for low-carbon economic growth, they prioritize utilizing renewable energy, both to reduce emissions and meet climate targets recently confirmed by COP26, but also in pursuit of economic gains. These plans however require high quality development and installation of RE-technology and its use, which has to be guaranteed on a much larger scale in the future. This is why in the long term, specialists in all fields of the RE sector will be of ever greater importance, the demand on the market will continuously grow, quickly surpassing the current shortage of skilled workers. And it is precisely them, the skilled workers, that the energy transition and its success urgently depend on.

Therefore, this session will discuss how countries can fill that gap with more vocational training, efficient syllabuses, more training of trainers and the use of remote as well as on-site learning.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

The renewable energy sector holds out high hopes when it comes to the role of women. There is huge unleveraged potential for more equitable participation in the stakeholder structure in renewable energy policymaking and implementation. Gender equality is a prerequisite and key driver for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, men still outnumber women in key functions in technical, managerial, and policymaking positions. Even though women hold a larger proportion of jobs in renewables than in the fossil energy sector – they remain underrepresented with only 32 % of the share in the workforce. This compares to a 22 % share reported in traditional energy industries like oil and gas.

The three main barriers are the perception of gender roles, the cultural and social norms, and the prevailing hiring practices. Skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are critical to many careers in renewables, but because of prevailing views of women’s abilities, they are systematically discouraged from pursuing these paths and consequently continue to have a limited presence in these fields. The lack of equal representation of females in decision-making roles is described as the “glass ceiling”, where invisible barriers keep women from rising to influential positions, regardless of their qualifications.

Boosting gender awareness and equity is a win-win proposition. Women’s contributions – their talents, skills, and views – are critically important in supporting this growing industry during a momentous transition towards a more sustainable energy system Closing the gender gap in the energy sector is essential for a successful energy transition.

Fossil fuels still dominate the global energy mix, even though their shares have been decreasing recently with renewables gaining ground fast in many places. The resilience of an economy greatly depends on how secure its energy supply is. Dependence on fossil fuels gives rise to geopolitical risks. growing Global efforts to achieve a carbon-neutrality therefore present a timely opportunity to strengthen energy security. Through rapid technological advances, falling costs and growing markets, renewable energy – once viewed a challenge for stable supply – has become a driver of decarbonisation, diversification and energy security.

In this session, the speakers will report on the success stories, but also the respective challenges in their countries.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

According to Deloitte, cities account for 40% of final energy consumption and up to 70% of greenhouse gas emissions, thus they play a pivotal role in the energy transition. Within them, new mobility services are emerging and there is a need for speed to up the ante on measures to implement climate protection. The “Covenant of Mayors” pledge to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 40% by 2030 is projected to be off-track by most measures.

Reducing energy consumption and switching to renewable energy and heat often goes hand in hand with a gain in quality of life for residents – through cleaner air, less noise, less sealed land, more green space. At the same time, the world of mobility is transforming rapidly with new actors, roles and networks as well as new technologies such as automated and connected driving and new business models based on digital solutions and platforms. In addition to this, user behavior and the acceptance of measures are very important for implementing the energy transition and transforming energy supply in cities.

This session will discuss the future of sustainable cities and their role in the energy transition with a focus on transport and will discuss alternative scenarios for transforming mobility, including the relevance of the existing infrastructure and energy efficiency.

Oceans represent nearly 70% of the earth’s surface, yet coastal energy, more specifically offshore wind technologies, remain under-exploited. The technical potential of offshore wind electricity is estimated at 420,000 TWh per year worldwide. This would be enough to meet today’s global electricity consumption. Yet we are still far from there.

Beyond the price aspect of offshore wind technologies, what explains such a delay in their deployment? How can national governments ensure the rise of offshore wind technologies as predicted by the international energy agencies? This session offers the opportunity for country leaders and international experts to exchange on what needs to be done to untap the full potential of coastal energy technologies. From financial support for R&D to grid expansion and the implementation of a local supply chain, what are the key levers that will enable the extensive deployment of wind offshore technologies?

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.

This session will gather several SET Award alumni start-up founders to discuss the future of the global energy transition and which innovations we can expect to lead the push. Each of the innovators will briefly introduce the solution that gained them a place in the SET Award running and has propelled them to becoming a leading force in the energy sector. The panellists will discuss the future plans of the energy transition and the design of the energy market and how their innovation will feature into this.

This session will take place in the BETD22 Studio. It will briefly summarize the previous session, solicit stakeholder reactions, and take a brief look at the social media discussion.