Rural Clean Energy Tour

The Heinrich Boell Foundation is organizing a Tour of Germany for ten US policy makers and advocates who engage in pushing the advancement of renewable energies at the local and regional level during the week of September 24, 2012.

In public and bilateral meetings, the group will gain practical insights on how the low carbon energy transition can create new local and cooperative business opportunities. The lessons from Germany’s experience are manifold – where much of the push towards clean energy comes from the local level. There is literally a small-town revolution underway where towns, villages and rural areas are striving to become more self-sufficient renewable energy communities.

The tour will begin in Berlin with political discussions on the German energy transition. Participants will share transatlantic perspectives on renewable energy at the 100% Renewable Energy Conference in Kassel organized by the German Renewable Energy Agency. Meetings in the Bavarian region of Rhön-Grabfeld will highlight some of the pioneer renewable energy projects initiated by rural communities. In Frankfurt, the group will be exposed to some of the key financing mechanisms in place for renewable energies in Germany.

The Tour will focus on the role that cooperatives are playing in Germany in pushing the renewable energy transition. It will address ways in which – through the cooperative model – renewable energy is spurring local business and investments opportunities that can revitalize entire communities through well-paying jobs, increased tax revenue, strengthened community engagement and more.

The Rural Clean Energy Tour is part of the Climate Network, a program by the Heinrich Böll Foundation that brings together opinion leaders, legislators and policy experts from both sides of the Atlantic who are committed to achieving policy change in support of a low carbon economy agenda. The Tour is tied to the International Year of the Cooperative 2012.

For further information on where and when you can meet us in Germany, please contact Rebecca Bertram at Rebecca.Bertram@us.boell.org . You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @EnergiewendeGER