During the Renewable Energy Week Vietnam 2018, COBENEFITS project leader Sebastian Helgenberger gave a presentation with insights into the co-benefits of renewable energy that have become drivers of the German Energiewende but are also relevant for Vietnam.
The opportunities of renewables for local value creation and energy independency, but also for the preservation of traditions and cultural habitat were of great interest to the audience. In Germany, plans of the major electricity producer RWE to extend coal mining in the forest „Hambacher Forst“, making it necessary to clear up even more parts of the forest and to displace thousands of people, have recently sparked a debate on the true costs of coal. Not only in Hambacher Forst, centuries old villages and traditions could be saved with the decision against further coal mining and for renewables instead.
The Renewable Energy Week Vietnam took place from 21.–26.8.2018 in different cities in Vietnam and was organized by the Vietnam Sustainable Energy Alliance (VSEA) with GreenID, the COBENEFITS focal point for Vietnam. The program has become an annual forum for stakeholders to discuss challenges, ideas and solutions proposed for a sustainable energy transition pathway in Vietnam.