Conference
The Europe+ Foundation’s second Transatlantic Green Platform, to be held on 3-5 June, will seek to drive forward the strategic alliance for green technologies, green growth and green jobs with its theme, “Global Cities - Green Growth.”
Patrice Lefeu, Executive Director of the Europe+ Foundation and Co-founder of the Transatlantic Green Platform, says the meeting will offer unique opportunities to take the declaration of intent made at last year’s Poznan meeting several steps further. It will also be an excellent place to prepare for the Copenhagen Climate Conference (to be held from November 30-December 11).
The meeting aims to foster transatlantic cooperation for clean technologies and green energies, putting on the stage the most innovative US and European cleantech and greentech companies, and linking them up with venture capital and technology users.
This event, part of the World Investment Conference, will bring together North American and European key players to exchange best practices, develop transatlantic cooperation in cleantech and greentech, and provide new solutions to global warming.
The meeting builds on the World Investment Conference in June 2007, which brought together over 1,000 international business and political leaders to exchange views and present proposals for economic, social and innovation policies, focused on green technologies and services as drivers for growth and jobs to high level European Union officials. In so doing, it gave birth to the concept of green growth.
In October of the same year, the European Union, on the initiative of Günter Verheugen, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for enterprise and industry, launched the Transatlantic Business Dialogue in Washington to enhance cooperation, trade and investments in the green economy across the Atlantic.
Against this backdrop, over the past three years the Europe+ Foundation has developed close ties with the US states of California and Texas, in partnership with Avise Partners through the California Technology Showcase. This cooperation provided an invaluable basis for the presence of a high-level US delegation at the first Transatlantic Green Platform in 2008.
California and Texas are drivers for the US economy as a whole, but also key states for green growth - an area where each is fighting for the lead, with billions of dollars in new investments. Last year alone, California attracted more than $1.1 billion in cleantech investment, reflecting its importance as a hub for venture capitalists and scientists from around the world who are racing to find new energy technologies. This amount is expected to grow by 20 to 30 per cent a year over the next decade. Similarly, in Texas, historically a centre for traditional energy, oil majors are now looking for new openings in renewables.
In 2007 and 2008, major progress was made on environmental issues, with a significant reinforcement of political commitments to deal with global warming on both sides of the Atlantic. In December 2007 in Bali, and March 2008 in Bangkok, leaders from the US and Europe expressed the need for concrete initiatives.
In June 2007, the first Transatlantic Green Platform, held in the run-up to France’s EU presidency, was an acknowledged success. In November, US President Barack Obama, placed green growth at the heart of his plan to deal with the unprecedented economic crisis. Last but not least, in December, the European Union adopted a climate-change package with a set of revolutionary measures.
While 2009 may well see the deepest point in the economic crisis, it could also bring new hope - with opportunities to demonstrate how economics can underpin green growth and green jobs.
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