26 September 2012

Global Energy Assessment and the Netherlands

IIASA's Nebojsa Nakicenovic speaks Thursday in the Netherlands about the key findings of the Global Energy Assessment.

The Hague, Netherlands © Ifeelstock | Dreamstime.com

The Hague, Netherlands © Ifeelstock | Dreamstime.com

On Thursday, 27 September, from 14:00 to 17:00, IIASA’s Nebojsa Nakicenovic will introduce the key findings of the Global Energy Assessment (GEA) at the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN) in the Hague, Netherlands. The event will be preceded by a press briefing and lunch from 12:15 to 13:45, which also includes Utrecht University professor Wim Turkenburg, a convening lead author of GEA.

GEA is the most comprehensive assessment to date of energy systems around the world. The new report, which included input from more than 500 scientists, policymakers, and energy experts around the world, examines the global challenges related to energy, technologies and resources available to provide modern and affordable energy, and possible policy solutions and scenarios that could lead to a sustainable future.  GEA identifies 41 pathways that could lead the world to universal access to sustainable energy. Not only is it possible to make energy accessible and sustainable, the report finds, but efforts to make this happen would also have multiple benefits for human society. Increasing the use of renewable energy would cut greenhouse gases and air pollutants, benefiting both human health and the climate.

The program will include lectures by Nakicenovic as well as GEA authors from the Netherlands, including Wim Turkenburg from Utrecht University, Monique Hoogwijk from the Municipality of Utrecht, Geert Verbong from TU Eindhoven, Detlef van Vuuren from PBL, and Heleen de Coninck from ECN. Nakicenovic will introduce GEA and discuss the challenges and opportunities to sustainable energy transitions identified in the report.

In addition to the general findings, the symposium will also include discussions on how GEA findings can be applied in the Netherlands, concluding with a panel discussion about what the Netherlands and Europe need to do to deploy renewable energy, encourage energy innovation, and how to incorporate the GEA findings into energy policy.

The full report of GEA is now available from Cambridge University Press. Summary documents for policymakers and the technical summary are available on the GEA Web site. Further information about the event is available on the ECN Web site.

On Monday, 24 September, Nakicenovic spoke about the GEA key findings at a UN event on sustainable energy connected to the UN general assembly meeting in New York. Austrian President Heinz Fischer also spoke at the event.

To attend the press briefing please contact ECN Press Officer Florentine de Maar at +31 088-5154050 or demaar @ ecn.nl



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Last edited: 01 October 2012

CONTACT DETAILS

Nebojsa Nakicenovic

Distinguished Emeritus Research Scholar Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions Research Group - Energy, Climate, and Environment Program

Global Energy Assessment

Find more information about the Global Energy Assessment, including the summary documents for download.

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313