Webinar - REN 21 Global Status Report 2012 - Asia Pacific focus

The findings in the REN21 2012 Global Status Report (GSR) speak to the cumulating effect of steady growth in renewable energy markets, support policies and investment over the past years. In 2011:

• Renewable sources supplied 16.7% of global final energy consumption. The share of modern renewables increased, while the share of traditional biomass slightly declined.
• 118 countries –more than half in the developing world– implemented RE targets.
• Investment in renewables increased 17% to a record $257 billion, despite a widening sovereign debt crisis in Europe and rapidly falling prices for renewable power equipment.
• Photovoltaic module prices dropped by 50% and onshore wind turbines by close to 10%, bringing the price of the leading renewable power technologies closer to grid parity with fossil fuels such as coal and gas.

A series of webinars will present the report and will provide regional focus. Go in depth and behind the scenes of the REN21 report with Christine Lins, Executive Director of REN21.

Mr Arne Schweinfurth will provide regional focus for Asia Pacific in this session.

Christine Lins was appointed as Executive Secretary of REN21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network of the 21st Century, in July 2011. During the last 10 years, she served as Secretary General of the European Renewable Energy Council, the united voice of Europe’s renewable energy industry. Lins has more than 15 years of working experience in the field of renewable energy sources. Previously, she worked in a regional energy agency in Austria promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. Lins holds a masters degree in international economics and applied languages.

Arne Schweinfurth studied Economics in Cologne (Germany), Madrid (Spain) and Montreal (Canada) with a focus on Energy Economics and Environmental Politics. As a consultant for The World Bank, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH and other organisations he worked on renewable energy, especially photovoltaic, renewable energy financing and energy subsidies. Since 2010 Arne Schweinfurth is advisor for renewable energy at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Indonesia, working in Jakarta, where he manages the Renewable Energy Support Programme for ASEAN (ASEAN-RESP), a regional project that supports the development of the renewable energy sector in the 10 member states of the ASEAN community. The ASEAN-RESP supports the regional transfer of knowledge and experiences, advises on feasibe policy framework conditions for renewable energies and provides training and capacity building.

In addition Mr. Schweinfurth is responsible for the implementation of the Project Development Programme Southeast Asia in Indonesia (PEP SEA) with a focus on private sector cooperation in the bio energy and solar power sector.