Daha Forum, Qatar, 2013

In December 2012, over forty parliamentarians, policy experts and technical specialists came together in Doha, Qatar, for a three-day Forum on climate change, renewable energy and parliamentary action in the developing world. The Doha Forum was the second in a series of parliamentary meetings jointly organised by the Climate Parliament and the United Nations Development Programme, under the Parliamentary Action on Renewable Energy (PARE) programme. 

 Read our full summary report on the Doha Hearing here.  

 The Doha Forum was designed to facilitate peer learning on renewable energy for parliamentarians. Legislators were given the opportunity to present renewable energy success stories from their own countries, learn from each other’s experience of undertaking parliamentary initiatives, and share best practices. 

Presentations included an inspiring case study of solar power in Bangladesh, where over 1 million homes have been provided with off-grid solar energy systems in the last five years; an exploration of India’s ambitious new renewable energy legislation; and a description of Morocco’s plans to encourage massive investment in solar power for domestic consumption and export to Europe – all presented by the MPs who helped make them happen. 

 In addition, the assembled MPs were briefed by leading technical experts in the fields of public Introduction policy, investment finance, and international development. The expert speakers included Sean Kidney, the Director of the Climate Bonds Initiative; Robert Kelly, UNDP’s Regional Advisor for Climate Change Mitigation; Mokgadi Modise, the Chief Director for Clean Energy at the South African Department of Energy; Veerle Vandeweerd, the Director of UNDP’s Environment and Energy Group; and Ana Velasco, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies. 

 The expert presentations focused on the specific legislative and financial initiatives required for enabling renewable investment in the developing world. On the final day of the Forum, a field trip was arranged to Qatar’s newly opened Solar Energy Testing Facility, where MPs were briefed by the facility’s Head of Operations, and shown the $200 million research centre by one of the engineers working on the project. The Forum also attracted interest in the media. Journalists and a photographer from Arab News attended the Forum and interviewed several of the MPs, while the Climate Parliament’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director, Dr Mostafa El Aouazi, was interviewed live on Al-Jazeera Arabic for the evening business section, reaching a potential audience of over 20 million viewers.