A Green Investment Impulse for Europe – 12 Recommendations for Green Growth and Successful Energy Transition

The transformations in various sectors required for the energy transition pose major challenges to political, economic and civil society actors: business models need to be reoriented and new technologies developed or implemented. Sustainable decarbonisation, which requires the success of the energy transition, also requires high levels of public and private investment which is difficult in times of weak economic growth in Europe. At the same time, there are opportunities for companies to engage in new markets with green business models. In addition, new players are emerging, for example due to digitization processes. In the course of a changed actor landscape, new possibilities for cooperation are being created that can enable green growth and simultaneously support the energy transition.
A large number of studies suggest that the barriers to transformation are primarily related to policies and regulation. Therefore, this report that was developed within the research project “Investment and the Energy Transition” has analyzed which policies need to be adapted in order to enable investments into green business models. Furthermore, questions of social acceptance were discussed. Twelve recommendations based on stakeholder interviews, focus groups and workshops with key actors in the energy transition are provided in this report. First and foremost, these are actors in the energy sector who, as part of the energy transition, must adapt to the ecologically necessary restructuring. In addition to the traditional players – the energy producers and the (transmission) network operators – the information and telecommunication sector (ICT industry) as well as institutional investors were included: The expertise of the ICT industry is needed in the implementation of demand side management and corresponding smart grids. Institutional investors can fill the investment gap for green infrastructure – from wind farms to power grids.

Weblink to the report: https://globalclimateforum.org/fileadmin/ecf-documents/pdf/Abschlussbericht021216.pdf