International agreements, innovations and best practices for the global energy transition: That was the 2024 Berlin Energy Week. This week focused on the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD) from 19 to 20 March 2024. Over 1,300 people from more than 130 countries regularly take part in the BETD.
2024 marked the 10th year of the event and once again, high-ranking national and international government representatives and decision-makers from politics, business and society were in attendance.
Today, driving forward the global energy transition is more important than ever before – The 2024 BETD brings together government representatives from Germany and abroad as well as decision-makers from politics, business and society to discuss solutions to common challenges at a time of great opportunity, but also great uncertainty in the energy sector.
The Federal Foreign Office (AA) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) organise the BETD each year. As an expert in the energy transition with interdisciplinary expertise, dena supports the German government in organising the Berlin Energy Week, the central event of which is the BETD. dena is cooperating here with various other organisations.
Energy transition tours: Experience energy transition projects on site
The BETD was complemented by various events that took place from Monday to Friday during the 2024 Berlin Energy Week. These energy transition tours enabled participants to get to know innovative companies and pioneers of the energy transition.
Innovative startups and relevant stakeholders in the energy transition met again this year at the ‘Startup Energy Transition Global Innovation Platform’ festival, where an extensive stage programme with inspiring keynotes, matchmaking for startups, panel discussions on innovations in the energy market and exciting workshops awaited the participants. The SET Award finalist pitches and the Start Up Energy Transition Awards ceremony at the BETD evening event were a particular highlight. The awards were presented in five categories: Clean Energy & Storage, Mobility & Transportation, Industry, Buildings & Construction, Clean Energy Access & SDG-7.
A special highlight of the BETD was the evening reception on the first day of the conference. Guests of the BETD and the partner events enjoyed an exclusive networking opportunity with selected food and drinks at the WECC Westhafen Event and Conference Centre Berlin. The highlight of the evening was the honouring of the recipients of the Start Up Energy Transition Award. The award was presented in five categories. The award recipients presented their ideas and showed the projects and solutions for the global energy transition that young startups are working on around the world.
Women’s Lunch: female experts for the energy transition
Women play an important role in the energy transition worldwide as a driving force for innovative and integrative solutions. However, they are still underrepresented in the energy sector, especially when it comes to positions with decision-making powers. The Women’s Lunch at the BETD is an opportunity for women from around the world to network and share their efforts and hopes for a global, just and inclusive energy transition. Elisa Facio, Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining from Uruguay, and Glory Oguegbu, Founder and CEO of the Renewable Energy Technology Institute and Africa Fellowship for Young Energy Leaders, gave an inspiring presentation, followed by a short Q&A session moderated by Kristina Haverkamp, Director of the Management Board at dena. The patrons of the event were Dr Anna Lührmann, German Minister of State for Europe and Climate, and Dr Vera Rodenhoff, Deputy Head of Department for International Climate Action and International Energy Transition at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
Brazil has enormous potential in the field of renewable energies as one of the world’s largest economies and one of the cleanest energy generation mixes, thanks to the use of hydropower. As important partners in building a climate-friendly future, Brazil and Germany are working closely together within the framework of their energy partnership and in multilateral forums to achieve global climate targets. Massive investment in green lead markets is needed to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency measures by 2030.
The B2G dialogue provided a platform for governments and companies from both countries to exchange views on the role of climate financing and the private sector in the energy transition, with a focus on Brazil’s G20 and upcoming COP30 presidencies, following a keynote speech by Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad and subsequent events at the Brazilian embassy.
Cooperation dialogues – the forum for energy and climate partnerships
The cooperation dialogues are networking events with representatives from countries with which Germany maintains bilateral partnerships on the energy transition and climate protection or with which such partnerships are currently being established.
Four panel discussions took place as part of this year’s cooperation dialogues:
Introductory panel: The role of climate, energy and hydrogen partnerships and energy dialogues
Panel 1: Climate Club – supporting the decarbonisation of industry in emerging and developing countries
Panel 2: Driving progress in the energy transition – the role of women in green jobs and technological innovation
Panel 3: Towards the Ukraine Recovery Conference (the 2024 URC) – sustainable financing of the green transformation in Ukraine during and after the war
The National Energy Sector Outreach programme enabled a large number of players from the German energy industry, associations and their partners to get involved in the BETD – by hosting and participating in partner side events. The National Energy Sector Outreach Side Events covered a wide range of topics: decarbonisation of the industry, development of hydrogen infrastructures, digitalisation strategies and electromobility, for example.
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More than 500 employees work at dena to ensure the success of the energy transition and climate protection – both nationally and internationally. Dena has launched around 1,500 projects since it was founded. Get to know the history of dena and find out about current projects and topics.
