The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament and the Italian Greens (Federazione dei Verdi), with the participation of Legambiente, WWF Italy and Greenpeace Italy, organised a two-day conference on 9-10 November 'World Energy Solutions: switch to green power' on the eve of the Word Energy Congress (which gathered major energy key players in Rome from 11 to 15 November).
The event was a large success with over 200 people participating in very fruitful debates. The conference speakers addressed both the Italian and the European perspectives of energy and climate change issues, underlining alternative solutions to nuclear and fossils.
The first day of the conference was focused on the role of energy oligopolies and included the first showing of a film (The ghosts of Soviet nuclear - The case of Mochovce) about their investments in nuclear energy, giving the example of the Italian energy company Enel.
Eva Joly, the judge who conducted the investigation of the Elf scandal in France also made a very powerful speech about the intransparent and undemocratic investments of energy multinationals around the world.
Chicco Testa, president of the organisational committee of the World Energy Congress, also debated with conference organisers in the final panel. In his view, in order to face the huge energy demand and to tackle climate change,the goal must be to reduce the use of fossil fuelsbut not to completely eliminate them.
The second day of the event brought additional background information on energy and climate change, especially through the presentation of energy scenarios for the future. It also gave the regional and local (cities) perspective of the debate and presented further details on the development of renewable energies in Italy, Europe and the world. A high-ranking panel saw Italian Ministers Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio and Emma Bonino, Greens/EFA Co-President Monica Frassoni and the presidents of the environment committees of the Italian chamber of deputies and senate expressing their views.
The conference succeeded in launching a public debate on climate change and energy choices, looking at the crucial contribution of innovative energy solutions to the essential reduction of our dependence on fossil fuels and unsustainable nuclear power.
Conference contact : greens.rome2007@europarl.europa.eu