e-Parliament News:

Legislators from Central African nations are gathering in Limbé, Cameroon between March 26-28 to discuss how they can supply renewable energy to all citizens of their nations.

The Climate Parliament is pleased to announce the publication of the Spanish translation of the toolkit on Forest Ecosystem Services which has been written particularly for members of parliament from forest nations.

The Climate Parliament is pleased to announce the publication of the latest toolkit on Forest Ecosystem Services which has been written particularly for members of parliament in forest nations.

Island legislators attending the e-Parliament hearing in Vanuatu earlier this month agreed to set up regional networks to promote the use of renewables.

Legislators from throughout Southern Africa are gathering in Maputo between September 18 and 20 to hear how they could supply electricity to their nations without harming the planet.

The e-Parliament is pleased to announce the publication of the latest legislative toolkit on feed-in tariffs (FITs) which has been written particularly for members of parliament in the developing world.

Legislators gathered at the Earth University in Guacimo this weekend considered how the Costa Rican system of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) could be applied in other countries in order to save the world’s rainforests.

Legislators from forested countries throughout the world are gathering in Costa Rica between June 5 and 7 to formulate plans to save the world’s rainforests.

This update was sent out to supporters of the e-Parliament at the beginning of May 2009

The e-Parliament’s first ever Election Index, which gives points out of twelve for the democratic credentials of parliamentary elections worldwide, is being launched today in an international videoconference.

Legislators gathered at the Grand Coastal Inn in Georgetown this weekend heard how islands in the Caribbean could easily source the vast majority of their energy needs from renewables. The 19 legislators – from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago as well as Guyana – heard expert presentations on solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy and agreed a communique

The e-Parliament – an organisation which specialises in spreading good ideas for legislation around the world - is bringing together a number of legislators from throughout the Caribbean to discuss energy priorities in the era of climate change. The 15-20 politicians from many different Caribbean countries will be addressed by experts on renewable energy - wind, solar, geothermal and biomass – and they will hear about the policy options which they could pursue.

This update was sent out to supporters of the e-Parliament at the beginning of March 2009

Five MEPs visited four 50 MW solar thermal power stations: the ACS/ Solar Millennium parabolic trough plants, Andasol 1 and Andasol 2, close to Granada; the Abengoa solar tower close to Seville; and the Iberdrola parabolic trough plant close to Puertollano in the centre of Spain which is still under construction.

The minutes and presentations from the Roundtable on Grid Infrastructure, which took place in Paris on November 21st 2008, have been made available for download on the e-Parliament website.

01/02/09 LONDON. A groundbreaking meeting of the e-Parliament Council took place on January 20th when Council members were linked using the very latest in videoconferencing technology.

24/12/08 LONDON. Legislators attending a hearing in Poznan earlier this month heard how Europe could move towards 100 percent use of renewables just by exploiting wind resources.

11/12/08 POZNAN Legislators from Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Greece, Germany and Italy will join colleagues from Poland this weekend for an e-Parliament and World Future Council co-sponsored hearing on renewable energy at the Polish Academy of Sciences near Poznan.

A high-level group of European and North African politicians, business leaders, officials and researchers are meeting in Paris today to discuss new long-distance electricity connections across the Mediterranean in the framework of the Mediterranean Solar Plan, which was launched at the Paris summit meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean on July 13th.

A groundbreaking global meeting will take place this weekend in Tobago when legislators from African and Pacific nations join their Caribbean colleagues to discuss how to provide energy for the poor while also combating climate change.

29/10/08 LONDON The e-Parliament is currently organising a high-level Supergrid Roundtable which will take place in Paris on November 21.

In collaboration with our East African partner AFREPREN, the e-Parliament has produced a toolkit for those wishing to explore the potential of geothermal energy.

West African legislators who gathered for an e-Parliament hearing on Energy Access for the Poor this past weekend, have signed a declaration calling for ECOWAS to form a renewable energy committee.

Legislators from throughout West Africa have been gathering in Accra in preparation for an international parliamentary hearing on energy access for the poor. The hearing will take place this weekend at the Volta Hotel at Akosombo.

Film-maker Ina Hume, who has been contracted to film the e-Parliament Energy Access for the Poor hearings, has published the first of nine videos on the e-Parliament website. The six-minute film is based on a series of interviews that Ina carried out while in Samburu and contains clips of many of the experts and legislators who took part.

12/08/08 LONDON The e-Parliament has launched a campaign that calls for the release of the 100 or so individuals who are being held in prison because of views they have expressed online. The campaign – the Call for e-Freedom – was initially discussed by an international group of MPs who had gathered to consult with a panel of human rights experts at an e-Parliament democracy hearing in Bali in December 2007.

18/07/08 BRUSSELS A cross-party group of 25 MEPs have called on the European Council and Commission to begin work on creating a “clean energy supergrid” spanning the Europe-Mediterranean region, which they say would make it possible to power Europe largely from renewable energy within one or two decades.

15/07/08 LONDON The e-Parliament has published details of its poll of the world’s democratically-elected legislators regarding their energy priorities.

20/06/08 LONDON The e-Parliament is delighted to announce that filmmaker Ina Hume has been contracted to make short films of the Energy Access for the Poor hearings. Ina Hume is an established film-maker who has previously done work for UNICEF and a number of UK-based charities. She will be producing short films of the nine different hearings which will be posted on our website.

21/07/08 JO'BOURG South African MP Dr. Ruth Rabinowitz (right) reports that her e-Parliament Renewable Energy Activists (eREACT) group has been making progress in boosting the profile given to renewables.

09/06/08 NAIROBI A group of East African legislators meeting this weekend in Samburu, Kenya agreed that the spiralling price of oil presents an huge challenge to African politicians and that there is an urgent need to convert to renewable sources of power.

05/06/08 NAIROBI. The e-Parliament held a press conference on Thursday June 5, at the Hilton Hotel in Nairobi to open the international parliamentary hearing for East African on ‘access to energy for the poor’ which is taking place at the Samburu Game Lodge over the weekend.

5.06.08 NAIROBI. Legislators from throughout East Africa have been gathering in Nairobi in preparation for an e-Parliament hearing on energy access for the poor. The hearing will take place this weekend at the Samburu Game Lodge in the northwest of Kenya.

03.05.08 JO'BOURG At the recent ecosystem hearing at Mabula, South African legislator Ruth Rabinowitz talked of promoting renewable energy in her national parliament.

29.04.08 LONDON. This afternoon the e-Parliament Secretary-General Nicholas Dunlop and Communications Director Jasper Bouverie met with British Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs Hilary Benn MP.

11.04.08 JO'BOURG. This evening MPs from throughout Africa and Latin America will be assembling at Mabula, outside Johannesburg, for an e-Parliament hearing on climate change and its destructive impact on nature. The hearing will be taking place over this weekend.

10.04.08 LONDON The e-Parliament has announced the locations for a series of international parliamentary hearings for a energy access project funded by the European Commission.

10.04.08 LONDON. The e-Parliament is pleased to announce a new project funded by the European Commission. It is entitled Energy Access for the Poor and will focus on informing and engaging legislators throughout Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) regions.