On Thursday, November 18, 2021, a few days after the UN Climate Conference COP26 came to a close, AmCham Germany welcomed Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Transformation Anna Shpitsberg, U.S. Department of State and Brice Raisin, Vice President, Heavy Duty Gas Turbine Sales, GE Gas Power EMEA, for a Transatlantic Talk under the title "Decarbonizing the Economy and Enabling Green Growth."
DAS Anna Shpitsberg set the stage by giving an overview of the Biden Administration’s clean energy and climate goals as well as its key priorities in the global transition towards net-zero with the energy transition being at the forefront.
In the discussion that followed, both speakers agreed on the enormous economic opportunities the transformation presented. Committing to ambitious targets, Anna Shpitsberg said, can send a strong signal to investors and can bolster investment opportunities. At the present stage, Brice Raisin pointed out, these targets need to be translated into investment schemes on a national level to drive forward decarbonization efforts. For fast emissions cuts, he also argued for increasing the efficiency of existing infrastructure and utilize technologies such as gas power generation that enable expansion of renewables and support the needed flexibility for the future. Anna Shpitsberg made a related point when stressing how discussing financing the energy transition often revolved around the high costs of adding new assets – the efficient utilization of existing assets should always be the first step. The discussion also touched on the importance of bilateral and international cooperation in leveraging innovative green technologies required for decarbonization as well as the role of nuclear power in a sustainable energy mix.
We thank our speakers for their lively insights on such an eminent topic and Prof. Dr. Torsten Oltmanns, AmCham Germany Regional Chapter Chair Berlin-Brandenburg, for moderating the discussion! A special thank you to our sponsor General Electric for generously supporting this event.
