Smart Grids - Need for Holistic Approach to Energy Policies

Synopsis

Archived report. After the collapse of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, BuddeComm highlighted the fact that, while China was one of the parties crucially involved in the collapse of the talks, at the same time it showed its own commitment towards climate change issues, energy efficiency, smart grids and so on.

Three years later the results are becoming evident. The rest of the world has continued to squabble over these issues without making any significant progress, while China, unhampered by political battles, has been steaming ahead with an holistic approach.

This report gives an overview of the high-level political situation that developed after Copenhagen. It covers the complex and important issues that still need to be addressed, and then moves on to explore the opportunities that are now opening up in the area of smart energy.

Recent developments:

The Copenhagen Summit was the first global event where countries came together to address a common cause. This in itself was an enormous achievement – a beacon to illuminate future global policy-making; Most western countries the political problems have produced a fragmented and ad hoc approach to climate change and energy efficiency policies and initiatives, while China in the meantime has been pursuing a far more holistic approach.