Season 1

TEB 1st Forum - Keynote by Leonore Gewessler, Leader of Green Party, Austria

with Leonore Gewessler· Green Party, Austria· 11m

TL;DR

Leonore Gewessler outlines five key points for accelerating the energy transition in Central Europe.

Synopsis

In her keynote, Leonore Gewessler emphasizes the importance of EU-level policies for the energy transition and the need for collaboration among stakeholders. She highlights the current backlash against renewable energy initiatives and the necessity of maintaining momentum in the face of political challenges.

Key metrics

by the numbers · 2

2 GW
Photovoltaic installation in 2024
95%
Renewable electricity in Austria 2024

Topics

3 tags

EU policyenergy transitioncollaboration

Stats

Duration: 11m
Words: 1.9k
Questions: 3

Timeline

7 chapters

Introduction
Gewessler introduces herself and her background in energy policy.
Five Key Points
She outlines five points to accelerate the energy transition.
Importance of EU Policies
Emphasizes the need for EU-level policies to be implemented nationally.
Current Backlash
Discusses the backlash against the energy transition and the need for advocacy.
Transition Progress
Affirms that the energy transition is happening across Europe.
System Costs Discussion
Warns against using system costs as an excuse to slow progress.
Collaboration Emphasis
Stresses the importance of collaboration across sectors for successful transition.

Key insights

5 takeaways

01
EU policies are critical
National implementation of EU-level energy policies is essential for progress.
02
Backlash against renewables
Current political forces are resisting the speed of the energy transition.
03
Investment in renewables is rising
Austria's installation of 2 GW of photovoltaics shows significant progress.
04
System costs must be managed
Avoid using system costs as a barrier to advancing energy transition initiatives.
05
Collaboration is essential
Inter-sector collaboration can drive innovation and effective policy implementation.

Pull quotes

1 quote

We're in the middle of a big backlash.
Leonore Gewessler

Transcript277 cuesClick a timestamp to jump

So now for the opening keynotes, we have
the honor to present proud Larvesta for
the keynotes. So first applause and the
floor is
Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot for this
very nice welcome and thanks a lot for
this inspiring start. so I will
I will really I'm really happy to be
here in a room full of such innovative
ideas and people who want to build
bridges. I was just looking whether the
bridge is still in the picture. We're
back in Vienna on the video.
and it's a real honor to be here. So
thanks a lot for having me. I am for
those who have an Austrian background
you might know I've spent the last five
years as a minister responsible for
climate action and energy in Austria am
now a member of parliament and energy
policy spokesperson and I think I am
politics in this room right or is
somebody somebody else engaged in that
beautiful sector
okay so
we need more
but then even even your bridge building
is even more important because it means
we need to get the different
perspectives together., and I will
start with a thank you and an ask and
I will end with a thank you and an ask
because this bridge building exercise
and bringing all the people who want to
build an energy future and a good energy
future together is crucial and I can
tell you your voice is crucial. It's
crucial for all the politicians who want
to build the environment, the framework,
the enabling environment for the energy
transition because without strong voices
from the sector, it is much more
difficult to do so. And so I thank
you for being here and for being that
voice and a question and a plea please
continue to do so. And I will just
give you five points from my
perspective because the question I was
asked was what's what's needed to
accelerate the energy transition
especially in the CE region. I will give
you five points for that. but I think
really bringing people together is a
starting point for everything. And if
you allow me that comment as a woman
in energy policy, I'm absolutely
thrilled to see so many women in this
room because this is not at all usual in
the energy policy. So thank you also for
that.
Session is only
first session is only women. Wow. Okay.
I think that's a premiere for me.
so back to my to the question
I was asked to talk about how to
accelerate the energy transition or how
to keep it on course I might add or to
make it even faster. Five points always
a word of happiness and a word of
caution.
First point for CE for the region for
Austria and all the neighboring
countries the EU level is absolutely
crucially important.
we've in the last five years we've
implemented a number of laws and I'm I'm
super happy I could be part of this
policym at the European level that help
accelerate the energy transition, help
accelerate the transition also of the
heating sector with for example building
standards, the mobility sector with
emission standards. I helped move it
along a bit in founding a like-minded
group of countries that were called the
friend are still called hopefully the
friends of renewables that where we
try to influence European policym
towards the energy transition because of
course Austria is not an island.
Hungary, Slovakia, all the countries you
might be from they are not islands. They
are part of an interconnected energy and
electricity system and so European level
is key for that.
So it's imperative now that we put all
this European policymaking that we did
the last five years into national
practice and this is again where all
your voices are needed because the
the devil is in the detail and as all
the experts in the field are in the room
I will not talk about a lot of detail
now we can maybe come back to it on the
on the on the panel debate but there we
need your voice to make sure this is
implemented in a good way.
Second point, let's not get scared
or let's not get fooled. We're in the
middle of a big backlash.
Obviously, what's happening now in the
energy field and in the energy sector is
really a huge transformation. We are
rebuilding the European or the regional
energy system
completely from also don't need no need
to explain in this environment from
centralized fossile analog to
decentralized renewable digital and
that's quite a change and of course
we're now in this moment in time where
this change is really disruptive where
this change becomes irreversible and
obviously There's a lot of forces that
are still back in the in the old times
or make money from from fossil fuels
that have a big interest not to have
this change happen at this speed or at
this scale that we are at the
moment. So that's nothing it
doesn't always feel very comfortable if
you're advocating for the energy
transition but it's also nothing unusual
in every big transformational journey if
it's a fight for social rights for
political rights for whatever there was
this moment before we managed to cross
the bridge
to a renewable energy world there is
a backlash we are right there that's
again why I need all of you and why we
all need all of you to really keep
the course and to be a voice for this
transition.
in also in the political field
because what we see now is that some
some parties notably unfortunately my
former coalition partner in Austria at
the European level try to try to weaken
the legislation and they also succeeding
parts and u that is something that we
have to that we have to work on and we
also saw that in Austria and professor H
will maybe remember because he did
much of the expertise in the policym
that there's There's a lot of
expertise, there's a lot of legal
drafting, but then in the end you need a
majority to actually vote the framework
that's needed to bring all these ideas
into full bloom. And that also part of
it was blocked in the last legislature
because we just, couldn't take
that last hurdle. So there your voice is
imperative to make sure it's the
future oriented voices that prevail in
the political debate and not the ones
who want to go back to the 20th century.
The third point,
even if I talk about we're just in the
middle of a of a of a situation where
there's a lot of political debate and a
a lot of
fight is a two martial word, but
there's a lot of debate around the
energy transition. It's happening.
That's my number three point. It's
happening. It's happening all over
Europe. It's happening globally. If you
look at the investment that's done in
countries like like like yours like
Chile and India, if you if you look
at the numbers in Austria, the energy
transition is happening. We installed in
23 in 24 more than 2 gawatt. Sorry
for bigger countries they will now say 2
gawatt was that for Austria this is huge
of photovol tags in just a year a
number that we thought impossible only
three or four or five years ago when I
started everybody would tell me that you
you're crazy that's never ever possible
we showed it's doable so it's really
the energy transition is happening
Austria 2024
nationally on a balance 95%
of renewable electricity.
So it's doable and it's happening
because also renewables are in many
ways a disruptive technology. They will
they well that best in terms of
levelized cost of electricity they
are competitive cost curves are going
down not going up. So these are the
really good news about it. Then I come
again to the word of caution. My fourth
point that's again where I need you and
all your smartness.
We have to pay attention that in the
discussion on the energy transition the
system cost doesn't become the excuse
for not progressing. And if you look at
the European level debate we hear
a lot of talk about redispatch costs
about grid expansion about all the
investment that's needed there and
obviously obviously there is investment
needed. We also needed investment to
build that bridge the mobility
infrastructure, the energy
infrastructure we have now. But we have
to make sure that we do this in a in a
very smart way and that we appro
approach
this debate with a lot of with a
lot of smartness otherwise this might
draw us back because and that's where
all your ideas where this
interconnection between AI
infrastructure investment policym
and all the things you're you're
discussing and thinking about are so
crucial Because
if we don't only talk about grid
expansion but smart grids and I know u
professor Haz will yawn because
we've been talking about that for
how many years?
Okay, I would say 20. But he's more
optimistic than I. so we've been
talking about that for a very long time.
But I think now is the window of
opportunity to make this actually a
reality because we have the tools, we
have the ideas and we have the necessity
to act. But I think this is a this is an
area where we really have to make
sure that the whole system
transformation so not only adding the
renewable bits but the whole system
transformation is done in a smart
way. And for this and with this I will
end because I had 10 minutes and I'm
almost on time. my fifth point
collaboration is key. the look across
sectors is key. The interaction be
between startups. Who's from a startup
here?
Right hand startup view there also.
So all the big utilities look at the
startups.? Because you can you can
need them. you all the all the inter all
the interaction between
fresh ideas and established players
between academia and the business
sector and between all of you and the
policy sector is really is really
crucial and that's why I think
conferences like this can be a really
good starting point and I'll end it
here not only because of time because
you will hear more of me on the panel.
So, I will add some of the detail and
some more words of caution on the panel.
But for this thank you for having me
and looking forward to really
inspiring debates. Thanks a lot.

TEB 1st Forum - Keynote by Leonore Gewessler, Leader of Green Party, Austria

EU policies are critical

Backlash against renewables

Investment in renewables is rising

System costs must be managed

Collaboration is essential