Presentation during the final conference of the EUKI project RENALDO – „Rural Development through Renewable Energy Sources” on 1-2 March in Warsaw

Source: Picture from the summary video of the RENALDO conference available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5kv_C6dqJ4&t=131s.

I was invited to present during the results of the comparative study of the Polish-German Energy Platform on energy communities in Poland and Germany.

Organisers of the conference  with the title “Energy cooperatives as part of a sustainable energy transition in rural areas”, were partners of EUKI project RENALDO as well as the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MRiRW), in cooperation with the National Agriculture Support Center Poland (KOWR). The conference concluded the RENALDO project and gathered more than 200 participants.

The event was opened by Ms Anna Gembicka, Secretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ms Nathalie Berger, Director for Support to Member State Reforms at the European Commission’s DG REFORM, and Mr Berthold Goeke, Deputy Director-General for National and European Climate Policy, at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. On the first day, participants had the chance to learn about the energy cooperative model and its advantages, and about experience from European energy cooperatives in Italy, Greece, Czech Republic and Germany. The following panel discussion focused on best practices from the RENALDO and involved communities in Poland. Relation from the event can be also found here.

My presentation during the conference, in pdf as well as a video, can be found on the KOWR-website (also other presentations in pdf and as videos are available on the KOWR-website). All presentations and discussions as well as a summary video from the conference, including an short interview with me, are also available on youtube (summary video and whole conference day 1 and day 2).

 

First time representing the German Energy Agency (dena)

From 27th to 29th of May I was a part of the delegation of the German Energy Agency (dena) to the 25th Energy & Environment Fair & Conference ICCI in Istanbul.

In 28th of May I took part in the meeting of the German-Turkish Working Group “Sector Coupling and Energy Infrastructure” with representatives from the Turkish Energy Ministry and gave a presentation on storage technologies in Germany, including large scale battery storage systems (BSS) and the concept of “Netzboosters” (grid boosters) (see dena’s Twitter below). On the next day I participated in the conference on storage technologies in Germany and Turkey with German and Turkish experts. 

Both events were organized jointly be the dena and the German-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It was a pleasure to be a part of the organization team as well as to share with the Turkish colleagues the knowledge about current situation and developments concerning storage of energy in Germany. I have also lernt a lot about the Turkish electricity system and the role of renewables. I am looking forward to the next meeting of the Working Group in Berlin!

Conference on energy crisis and energy security on 17 June in Warsaw

The conference is going to take place in the Polish Parliament (Sejm) on 17 June. The title of my presentation is: “Germany’s Scenario and Prepartion in Case of Global Energy Crisis” (in Polish: “Scenariusz i przygotowania Niemiec na wypadek (globalnego) kryzysu energetycznego”).

It is organized by the Environmental Assiociation EKO-UNIA (Stowarzyszenie Ekologiczne EKO-UNIA), Nationawide Coalition “Development YES – Open-cast Mining NO” (Ogolnopolska Koalicja “Rozwoj TAK – Odkrywki NIE”) and Anna Grodzka, Member of the Polish Parliament from the Green Party.

Description of the conference at the organizers’ website:

Celem konferencji jest przeanalizowanie skali zagrozenia wynikajacego z prognozowanego przez wielu naukowcow zalamania sie globalnego bezpieczenstwa dostaw energii. Wiaze sie to z wyczerpywaniem sie zasobow paliw kopalnych, na jakich oparta jest glownie dotychczasowa gospodarka Polski i wiekszosci krajow. Dennis Meadows, swiatowej slawy naukowiec, autor raportu Klubu Rzymskiego (Granice wzrostu, 1972) ostrzega, ze juz przed rokiem 2020 mozna sie spodziewac wyczerpania strategicznych paliw kopalnych, gospodarczego upadku i rozpoczecia gwaltownej redukcji populacji.

Zasadniczym celem konferencji jest podkreslenie wagi polityki energetycznej kraju dla strategii bezpieczenstwa narodowego, z mysla o terazniejszych i przyszlych pokoleniach.

Here is more information about the conference.

Here you may watch the press conference that too place before the conference.

Here you may watch the video taken at the conference and the panel discussion.

Presentation from the Intensive Programme of the MA in Euroculture “European Environments: How a New Climate is Changing the Old World”

The power-point presentation (in English) entitled “Bringing energy to the people – what Poland, Europe and the world really need?” that I prepared for my talk during the panel: “The Climate of European Politics: Climate Change, Europe and the World” during the Intensive Programme of the MA in Euroculture “European Environments: How a New Climate is Changing the Old World” on 23 June  in Cracov is available here:

Presentation “Bringing energy to the people: what Poland, Europe and the world really need?”, Karolina Jankowska

Speech during the Intensive Programme of the MA in Euroculture “European Environments: How a New Climate is Changing the Old World”

The Intensive Programme of the MA in Euroculture ”European Environments: How a New Climate is Changing the Old Wolrd” is going to take place at the Jagiellonian University in Cracov from 22 to 29 June. I am going to give a speech during the opening panel: “The Climate of European Politics”. The title of my speech is: “Bringing energy to the people: what Poland, Europe and the world really need”.

Some European states and the European Union are widely seen as leaders in global environmental issues. Various European states have gone furthest in moving toward sustainable energy policies; EU environmental standards are among the most stringent in the world. But the politics surrounding climate change are highly complex. Within Europe, there are wide differences among European states’ responses to environmental change, and in how voters and political leaders perceive the issue. Increased public awareness of the dangers of climate change does not seem fundamentally to have changed voting behavior on the national or European level. On the global level, complex issues of political, economic, and soft power make it unclear whether the EU is really able to offer global leadership in promoting sustainable development.

Here students are invited to explore the issues and themes in which European integration, international politics, and global environmental issues meet and intersect. How does climate change affect the EU’s relations with, for example, China, Russia, Brazil, or the United States? How is the warming of the Arctic (raising the prospect of ice-free summers in the near future) affecting European energy, security, and trade policy? Are there European success stories like international cooperation in cleaning up the Rhine, or the development of European emission standards that can inspire transnational environmental cooperation elsewhere? Or does Europe’s current crisis undermine the Union’s ability to take up a leadership role? Does the rest of the world even want such leadership? Within the EU, can environmental crisis be a force that deepens European integration, or only a further strain on the Union? How, for example, will the EU respond to the expected influx of so-called climate refugees, driven from their homes by rising sea levels or desertification? What links Europe’s financial crisis and the crisis of European institutions to the problems of climate change? Could so-called ecological economics offer fresh solutions to the crisis of the eurozone? Finally, how can we best understand the interplay of local, national, European, and global forces that drive European governments’ responses (or lack thereof) to ecological concerns?

More information about the conference as well as its programme are available on the website of the Intensive Programme of the MA in Euroculture.