The Climate Network

Revitalizing Transatlantic Relations for a Green Economy

Both Europe and the United States can point to regional success stories in the area of low carbon growth. The Climate Network brings together opinion leaders, legislators, and policy experts from both sides of the Atlantic that are committed to achieving policy change in support for a low carbon economy agenda that creates sustainable jobs, strengthens local economies and helps to fight climate change. The Climate Network fosters a transatlantic dialogue in Washington, Brussels and Berlin through measures including public speaking and study tours, roundtable discussions, Climate Media Fellowships and by widely publishing energy reports across the United States and Europe.

Climate Media Fellows 2012

Climate Media Fellow

Anastasia Emelianoff

Anastasia’s research will focus on the question of how European climate and energy policies have transformed since the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. The Climate Media Fellowship will take her to Germany and France to witness contrasting energy solutions on national, regional and local levels. While in Germany, Anastasia will look into the increasing role that municipal governments and utilities play in achieving the countries’ energy goals.

Climate Media Fellow

Kari Lydersen

Kari will report on the physical questions related to whether the US can learn from Germany and other European countries in transitioning from the “old” to “new” energy economy. In particular, Kari will focus her research on the transition of former coal plants or other industrial sites into clean energy generation or public space and on the way in which policy mechanisms, land use changes and initiatives can make such a transition possible. This is an area of growing interest to policymakers in the U.S. as more than 100 older coal-fired power plants nation-wide have closed or announced imminent closing.

Climate Media Fellow

Osha Gray Davidson

In a series of articles, Osha will explore the political, social, and economic forces that made Germany a renewable energy powerhouse. The focus will be on those factors that can help the United States understand how to make the transition from fossil fuels to renewable power. He will also look at the sustainability of Germany’s energy revolution in light of the European debt crisis and the need to fight climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The series will appear in InsideClimate News.

Climate Media Fellow

Daphne Wysham

Daphne will report on the various economic and political factors that have allowed Germany to move away from nuclear power and toward a renewable energy future. She intends to compare and contrast the German experience with one other European country, as yet undetermined. She will provide stories and commentary on her findings for a variety of radio shows, as well as for print and TV outlets.

Tour

November 19, 2012 - As the European offshore wind rush gets underway, the role of traditional seaports becomes ever more important. On the Atlantic coast, individual US states are also increasingly looking into pushing a similar development. In order to get a transatlantic offshore wind discussion going, the Heinrich Boell Foundation organized a Tour for Dr. Joachim Lohse, Senator for the Environment, Construction and Transportation of the German City-State of Bremen to Washington, DC., Maryland and New York. more»

Event

Book Lauch: Clean Break

- November 19, 2012 -

Osha Gray Davidson, an American journalist and a Climate Media Fellow of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, recently returned from a trip through Germany on which he met with citizens, businessmen, and decision-makers to discuss and understand the German Energiewende. His astonishing findings have been published in a book called Clean Break, which was presented and debated in a panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington, DC in cooperation with Inside Climate News.

Event

Aviation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Identifying Transatlantic and Global Solutions

- October 30, 2012 - Greenhouse gas emissions from aviation are one of the fastest-growing sources of climate pollution, but they are currently unregulated. Since January 2012, the European Union has controversially included aviation emissions in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). This move is opposed by the United States and other countries, which favor a solution in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the relevant standard-setting body. In this instance why is Europe, the champion of multilateralism, imposing a law on its own rather than waiting for an international agreement? more»

Event

Rural Clean Energy Tour

- October 3, 2012 - During the week of September 24, 2012, ten US policy advocates for local clean energy visited Germany to study the country’s energy transition into a nuclear free era based almost entirely on clean renewable energy. more»

Event

Midwest Clean Energy Tour

- July 5, 2012 -

Rural energy cooperatives are one of the driving forces behind the German energy transition. To highlight some of the local successes of the cooperative model, the Heinrich Böll Foundation in cooperation with the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) organized a public speaking tour which brought two leading cooperative experts from Germany to the Midwestern states of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin from June 11 to 16, 2012.

Event

Solar Power Trends: German and U.S. Perspectives

- March 12, 2012 - In light of the international race to a low-carbon economy, Germany has generated particular interest with its quick transition from coal and nuclear energy to a renewable energy based economy. Over the last ten years, Germany has increased the share of electricity from renewable sources from 5 percent to over 20 percent, while creating more than 380,000 new jobs in this sector. more»

Fellowship

Climate Media Fellowship 2012 - Application process is closed

- February 6, 2012 -

Do you want to learn and write about the low carbon energy transition that is currently underway in Europe and Germany? The Heinrich Böll Foundation has been accepting applications for its Climate Media Fellowships 2012.

The Fellowship was open to media journalists or students from the U.S. who are eager to learn and report about the European and/or German energy transition in the U.S., with the aim being for the Fellows’ research to be published widely across the U.S. more»

Event

Germany and the Czech Republic – different paths to a secure energy future?

- December 8, 2011 -

In light of common European energy challenges the Czech and German energy policy concepts represent two rather divergent energy strategies. While the current Czech government advocates a larger share in nuclear and coal driven energy generation Germany puts the emphasis on renewable energy and energy efficiency measures and a phase-out of nuclear power by the year 2022.

Event

Transatlantic solutions for a low-carbon economy: Are regional initiatives the best solution for U.S. action?

- November 7, 2011 - The Heinrich Böll Foundation EU Office and the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) co-hosted a panel debate at the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the European Union. The debate aimed to create a discussion about the latest developments in U.S. climate and energy policy as well as the future opportunities for progressive climate and energy policies at the regional and state level on both sides of the Atlantic. more»

Event

European Union Green Jobs Tour 2011

- October 7, 2011 - In cooperation with the BlueGreen Alliance, the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Climate Network brought eight representatives of labor unions and environmental organizations on a green-jobs focused tour to Europe from September 26 to October 5, 2011. more»

Event

Gaining Strenght - Clean Energy Solutions for a Resilient Economy

- September 22, 2011 - On September 20th, policy makers from Germany and the United States came together to discuss common ways for making renewable energies the driving force of industrial revolution of the 21st century. The conference took place as part of the Climate Network of the Heinrich Boell Foundation and marked the release of the publication Sharing Solutions: Transatlantic Cooperation for a Low-Carbon Economy
more»

Report

September 19, 2011 - Sharing Solutions: Transatlantic Cooperation for a Low-Carbon Economy - In this latest report of the Climate Network, policy-makers, civil society actors and local stakeholders in both the US and Europe address how to enhance renewable energy policies in rural and industrial regions despite current economic and political barriers. more»

Report

Harvesting Renewable Energy

- July 28, 2011 - This report is in the final product of the Midwest Renewable Energy Tour. It shares the German success of using policy to develop rural renewable energy projects and how farms in the US states of South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin can increase their renewable energy capacity. by Neil Vielleux more»

Midwest Renewable Energy Fellow 2011

Neil Veilleux

- Neil Veilleux, a renewable energy consultant at Meister Consultants Group (MCG), will assess the potential of renewable energy and conservation policies to increase rural development and job creation opportunities for farmers in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. more»

ARTICLE

Harvesting Renewable Energy

- Dirk Ketelsen, organic farmer and executive director of Dirkshof, a renewable energy producer and consultancy in Schleswig-Holstein, gives a first-hand report on the successes of his investment in renewable energies. by Dirk Ketelsen more»

Event

How Will Germany meet its ambitious energy goals?

- July 27, 2011 -

The country has taken some fundamental energy decisions this year and can provide a good case from which other countries can learn from. Dr. Felix Matthes from the Oeko Institute outlines the three strategic approaches of Germany’s energy transformation until 2050.