WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Delahunt yesterday proposed a climate change partnership between the New England Region and Germany, to confront the challenge of global warming and boost the region’s emerging clean energy industry.

“A transatlantic partnership on climate change with Germany and other European nations would show the rest of the world that New England wants to stimulate investment and job growth in clean energy,” Delahunt said today.

The proposal was discussed at a New England Congressional Delegation Summit Meeting on Energy held at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.   The conference, which attracted several hundred industry and academic experts from across the region, was organized by the New England delegation and the New England Council.

The Climate Change Agreement that Delahunt outlined would be similar to an agreement recently signed by the Governor of Florida.  The Delahunt proposal would be to facilitate exchanges on renewable energy policies, future cap-and-trade agreements, technology, and economic development.   In addition, California officials have been discussing a potential climate change agreement focused on cap-and-trade policies. 

“I think we can learn a great deal from Germany.  I am impressed not only with their success in addressing climate change, but by their success in creating a robust clean energy industry. It is time for New England to position itself to aggressively compete in this new economy,” said Delahunt.

At the conference, Delahunt and a panel of experts discussed successful strategies that Germany and other European nations have adopted to address climate change and spur growth in solar, biofuels and wind power.  By the end of this year, renewable energy will be the source for approximately 14 percent of gross electricity consumption in Germany – a share that is expected to rise to 20 percent by 2020.  As a result, Germany has now become a world leader in solar, wind and biofuels development.

The conference highlighted several specific policies that have helped create a “boom” in the renewable energy field, such as “net metering,” feed-in-tariffs, and an extension of the production tax-credit.  These policies require utilities to take renewable energy from any source and pay a premium price that provides a powerful incentive to industry. 

In addition, the panel of experts emphasized the importance of adopting policies such as land and ocean zoning to guide renewable energy projects to areas where it is deemed to be appropriate. For example, the government has identified offshore wind as a priority and just finished a three-year program to zone the entire North Sea.  The government has identified pre-designated sites for future projects.  The zoning and financial incentives will aid in developing over 30,000 megawatts of renewable energy from offshore sites in deep water areas of the North Sea.    

Delahunt is a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight. He is also Co-Chairman of the Congressional Study Group on Germany and is a Congressional Delegate to the United Nations.

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