Grounding Green Power – New Opportunities for Development Cooperation through Smart Energy Policies

The German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Heinrich Böll Foundation are pleased to host an afternoon discussion on the role the donor community can play in promoting green growth in developing countries through the transformation of energy systems.

Development cooperation — encompassing bilateral and multilateral aid as well as philanthropic flows — can help drive the deployment of clean energy technologies in developing countries. In order to have a meaningful impact, however, cooperation needs to move from a project-based approach to one that supports smart renewable energy policy. Development actors can help drive the adoption of these smart renewable energy policies in a way that uses public and philanthropic funds most effectively and efficiently.

This roundtable discussion will focus on the successful examples of smart energy policies in developing countries and consider ways that these insights can inform the strategic funding decisions the donor community will need to make over the coming years. The discussion will be informed by the new Working Paper by WRI, entitled “Grounding Green Power,” that surveys existing renewable energy policies in developing countries and outlines the successes, challenges, and barriers they have experienced. The paper was supported by the German government’s Transatlantic Climate Bridge initiative.

This is an invitation only event. To learn more about this event please contact Tessa Paganini at tpaganini@gmfus.org or 202-683-2636.

Welcome: Klaus Linsenmeier, Director, Heinrich Böll Foundation Washington DC

Presentation:

• Manish Bapna, Executive Vice President & Managing Director, World Resources Institute
• Lutz Weischer, Research Analyst, World Resources Institute

Respondents:

• Asoka Abeygunawardana, Adviser to the Minister of Power and Energy, Sri Lanka
• William Breed, Director, Global Climate Change team, USAID
• Jens Haarlov, Alternate Executive Director, The World Bank Group
• Keya Chatterjee, Director, Climate Change Program, WWF

Moderator: Nigel Purvis, Senior Fellow, GMF, and President, Climate Advisers

Close: Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, Senior Director for Policy Programs, GMF

Registration and coffee from 3:30pm. Event begins promptly at 4pm. Event will be followed by a reception at GMF.