Creating Sustainabale Growth in Western Economies - Foundation Office United Kingdom and Ireland
Event Reports
The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in London held its annual conference on 11th De-cember 2012. The theme was ‘Creating Sustainable Growth in Western Economies’ and the keynote speaker was Minister Peter Altmaier.
What are the requirements for successfully overcoming economic crisis? How can this process be combined with different goals such as higher competitiveness and lower carbon dioxide emissions? Will the “Energiewende” strengthen or weaken the German economy? Can countries succeed alone or do they need the region? These were the main questions covered at the conference.
Throughout the day there were three panels, in addition to the keynote speech, that addressed different aspects of the challenge to create econo-mies that are sustainable on both economic and environmental terms.
The sessions were entitled:
1)Innovation as a shared responsibility
keynoteThe German Energiewende and its implications for the German economy and Europe
2)The importance of green jobs for sus-tainable growth
3)Interdependence in Europe and the freedom of action for individual states in creating growth
Following welcome remarks from KAS London Director Claudia Crawford, the first session began with the moderator, Roland Freudenstein, introducing the speakers. Each spearker make a presentation of approximately ten minutes, bringing up the key points in the debate in relation to their specific experience and area of expertise. The key themes that were addressed included the development of a skilled workforce. Funding research and development, and the different approaches adopted in different regions throughout Europe.
Following a short break, the keynote speech was delivered by Peter Altmaier, German Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservations, and Nuclear Safety. Minister Altmaier was introduced by German Ambassador in London, Mr Georg Boomgaarden. The keynote speech focussed upon energy policy within Germany and the potential for a wider green agenda to be pursued successfully. Following a short question and answer session, the conference broke for lunch.
The second panel session began at 1.30pm and was introduced by the moderator, Iain Anderson. The four speakers were Lord Deben, Matthew Brown, both from the UK, and Professor Jens Urbach and Dr Christian Lutz from Germany. The discussion centred upon the various areas of economy, both those where progress has been made and those that are underexplored, in which green policies can be introduced. The different strategic capacities for both the UK and Germany were outlined, along with the policies that are being implemented.
The third and final panel took a broader look at the issue of sustainable growth by introducing the wider context of the global financial crisis, the challenges facing the Eurozone, and the scope for coherent cooperation amongst key players. Both Josef Janning and Professor Nicholas Craft outlined the prospects for Europe and what the likely trajectory of a successful emergence from crisis would require. The Moderator for this session, Dr Imke Henkel, led discussion from the audience before Claudia Crawford ended the events by thanking all who had participated and attended.
