In November 2014, the Climate Parliament and UNDP held the final international parliamentary forum in the 3-year Parliamentary Action on Renewable Energy project, entitled Learning from Success.
The conference was held on the banks of the Dead Sea, near Amman, Jordan, and was made possible thanks to the support of the European Commission and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. All photographs, presentations, and background documents from the event are available for digital download here.
You can read a full summary report on the event here.
The meeting focused on success stories, where members of the Climate Parliament’s global network of legislators have been taking the lead to change energy policies in their countries. Among the many inspiring examples of progressive climate action undertaken by Climate Parliament legislators over the three years of the PARE project, three in particular stood out:
INDIA. MPs have played a leading role in doubling the national budget for renewables, and more than doubling India’s 2020 target for renewable energy.
TUNISIA. Parliamentarians inserted a commitment to climate action into the country’s new constitution, and have pushed through a strong new law on renewable energy.
BANGLADESH. The Minister of Power has publicly acknowledged that the Bangladesh Climate Parliament group played a decisive role in establishing a new Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority, together with a US$52 million fund for renewables.
In Jordan itself, our Climate Parliament group has been building political will to exploit more rapidly the country’s vast solar and wind resources. In Morocco, Senegal, Tanzania, the European Parliament and elsewhere we have been working on changing budgets and taxes to encourage investment in clean energy and energy access. The many achievements so far have been the result of work by dedicated legislators, supported by staff work and expert advice from the Climate Parliament and UNDP.
In Jordan, we shared experience between MPs who have been involved in this work and other interested MPs, consider how we can replicate successful initiatives in more countries, and discuss how we can accelerate the shift from fossil fuels to solar, wind and other renewable energy sources.
This is becoming increasingly urgent. Climate impacts caused mainly by oil, coal and gas are multiplying around the world as ice melts, the seas rise, and we witness an unprecedented series of flood disasters and violent storms. Meanwhile, more than 1 billion people still don’t have a single lightbulb in their homes, even though they live in places that are rich in energy resources. With the price of solar and wind power falling fast, what we need now is a strong push from lawmakers to launch an irreversible worldwide energy transition. Developing countries have a crucial role to play: already 80% of renewable energy investment is in less-industrialised countries. We will focus our discussions on budgets, taxes and national renewable energy targets, all matters where legislators are closely involved. We will also consider how other developing countries can work more closely with China, which is now the largest investor of all, and which is making ambitious proposals for international grid connections to promote renewables.
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