LAUNCHING A U.S.-EU ALTERNATIVE ENERGY PARTNERSHIP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STOCKHOLM 000202 SIPDIS STATE FOR NSC/KVIEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG SENV KPAO ECON OEXC BEXP KGHG PREL EUN SW SUBJECT: LAUNCHING A U.S.-EU ALTERNATIVE ENERGY PARTNERSHIP TO SUPPORT CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS STOCKHOLM 00000202 001.2 OF 005 ¶1. This is a joint USEU/Embassy Stockholm cable. Action requests in para 12. Summary ======= ¶2. Posts propose launching a "U.S.-EU Alternative Energy Partnership" during the Swedish Presidency of the EU, July-December 2009. This partnership, based on Embassy Stockholm's successful One Big Thing initiative, would complement existing initiatives and highlight cooperation in five areas: business cooperation; research; Embassy environmental efforts; public awareness; and policy. Posts believe the public diplomacy focus of the initiative will help us with the EU in the Copenhagen negotiations by improving public perceptions of the U.S. on climate change. With Department's approval, we would like to begin discussion with posts, the Government of Sweden, and the EU with the goal of jointly announcing this initiative and commencement of some of the activities at the beginning of Sweden EU Presidency on July 1. End Summary. Background -------------- ¶3. Embassy Stockholm's alternative energy cooperation project with Sweden, called the One Big Thing (or OBT),is a bilateral success story that we think could be replicated at the EU level during Sweden's EU presidency the second half of this year, when the Copenhagen UNFCCC negotiations really will be the One Big Thing. The OBT in Sweden fostered excellent government-to-government cooperation in many sectors, especially energy and environment. Results included an estimated $150-$200 million in business relationships between U.S. and Swedish alternative energy firms, and the creation of the "League of Green U.S. Embassies," a group of 30 Missions in EUR, AF, NEA and SCA that share ideas on greening USG facilities. The OBT led to highly positive media coverage of U.S. environmental policies in Sweden, creating a "halo effect" that helped shift the public focus away from divisive issues like Guantanamo and made it easier for our governments to work together on issues like Afghanistan and Iraq. Description of the Project -------------- ¶4. Governments on both sides of the Atlantic have begun efforts to convince their publics to make the hard choices that will be needed to reach a binding international agreement on climate change at December's COP 15 in Copenhagen. An EU-wide "One Big Thing" program aids this effort by demonstrating to European political, business, media, opinion leaders and the public that the United States is seriously engaged in finding the technological solutions necessary to achieve meaningful reductions in emissions, and cooperating closely with Europe as part of that effort. ¶5. We propose using Embassy Stockholm's One Big Thing model to highlight and expand U.S.-European alternative energy cooperation, especially during the July-December Swedish EU Presidency. Embassy Stockholm has raised this idea with the Government of Sweden and received a very positive response. The GoS knows that the program works, and it fits well with Sweden top Presidency priority: the conclusion of a binding international agreement at COP 15 in December. ¶6. Posts are mindful of the multitude of existing U.S.-EU dialogues, forums and partnerships and are not proposing creation of a new body or mechanism. Instead, we see this largely commercial and public diplomacy effort as complementing and giving greater political profile to other efforts by highlighting alternative energy partnerships with Europe through activities under five themes: Proposed activities: ==================== ¶7. Business cooperation theme, three activities: -------------- --- (a) Highlighting U.S. companies with innovative green technologies: To showcase the positive contribution the U.S. business sector has made in providing climate change solutions, Embassies in the 27 EU member states would highlight U.S. STOCKHOLM 00000202 002.2 OF 005 companies that offer clean tech products and services. We would work with the Department of Commerce and industry associations to prepare fact sheets for Embassy websites about American strengths in such areas as solar power, fuels cells, energy efficiency and green buildings. Such international exposure would benefit both U.S. industries, as well as European companies, by allowing an exchange of information, ideas, and expertise. This would also complement FCS's "Showcase Europe" focus on green technologies, especially on renewable energy (coordinated by FCS Stockholm) and green buildings (coordinated by FCS Paris). (b) Highlighting potential private sector partners in European countries for U.S. firms: One of the most successful aspects of the One Big Thing in Sweden is the "A-List", which contains one-page descriptions of more than 50 promising Swedish clean tech companies identified by Embassy Stockholm. The Embassy publicizes this list in the local media and shares it with U.S. investors and businesses seeking Swedish partners. The Swedish business community sees the list as a novel way to attract customers and the Swedish media have been captivated by the idea that the U.S. Embassy is interested in Swedish innovations. Embassy Stockholm could use its experience in preparing the OBT "A-List" to advise Embassies in the other member states how to identify firms in their countries, suggesting fields to focus on, providing templates, recommending possible sources of information, and so forth. Action: FCS Stockholm and USEU, U.S. Embassies in member states, in cooperation with BusinessEurope, the Transatlantic Business Dialogue, AmCham EU, and local industry associations. (c) Green Business Fair: U.S.-EU joint efforts in alternative energy and energy conservation efforts can be highlighted through a strong presence of U.S. companies in Europe at "Bright Green," the trade show being organized in connection with COP 15. Embassy Stockholm and USEU FCS are already recruiting American companies for the event and Embassy Stockholm is publicizing it among Swedish companies as well. This effort is coordinated by FCS Stockholm, which has the lead among Commerce offices in Europe on the "Bright Green" exhibition. Action: FCS USEU, FCS Stockholm, other FCS. ¶8. Technology, R&D theme, two activities -------------- (a) Publicizing Energy R&D Cooperation: The U.S. and EU cooperate extensively on energy research and technology development, and we have similar R&D cooperation with many of the individual member states, including, of course, Sweden. We should use the EU-wide OBT to aggregate and highlight these activities; together, they would tell an amazingly powerful story. At the EU level, DOE and the Directorates General responsible for R&D (DG RTD) and Energy (DG TREN) in January 2008 decided to reinvigorate our energy R&D cooperation. This led to a major EU team visiting DOE and its national laboratories in June of last year, followed in October by a thirty person DOE delegation to Brussels and Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium. We are now working on action plans for cooperation in solar power, hydrogen fuel cells, biofuels, and carbon capture and storage (CCS); these should be approved at the March 25-26 U.S.-EU S&T Joint Committee Meeting. Included in this cooperation is U.S. participation in EU program reviews, including the Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) for hydrogen fuel cells, and EU participation in DOE's annual hydrogen fuel cell and solar power reviews. DOE, NSF, EPA, USDA, and Embassies in the EU 27 member states should catalogue the energy technologies cooperation we have with each; we should use this as input for a single OBT website, as well as a short fact sheet that we can regularly update and make available. Action: USEU Econ, Embassies' Econ/EST sections in EU Member States. (b) Researcher Exchanges: Embassies should also consider promoting researcher exchanges or visits. Often these are STOCKHOLM 00000202 003.2 OF 005 the easiest cooperative efforts bureaucratically, and in many cases, provide excellent stories for public diplomacy efforts. Additionally, further utilization of AAAS fellows or of the existing Embassy Science Fellow program will expand Embassies' scientific networks, ultimately providing returns on investment over several years. Embassies Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Rome, and The Hague are in a particularly important position, as their host countries house the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) laboratories. Drawing upon existing Department of Energy and other USG agencies' relationships with researchers at these institutes will expand efforts from bilateral to EU-wide. Action: USEU Econ, Embassies' Econ/EST sections in EU Member States. ¶9. Greening the Embassies theme, two activities: -------------- --- (a) All U.S. Missions in EU member states join the "Green League": Greening our USG facilities overseas - and informing host country publics of what we have done - is an obvious step already underway at many missions. The success of the One Big Thing and Embassy Stockholm's own greening efforts led to the creation in 2007 of the "League of Green U.S. Embassies," or "Green League." More than 30 posts, the majority from EUR, have now joined the League, pledging to reduce the carbon footprints of their facilities and fleets and to share best practices in Embassy greening via an intranet website. Embassies in all EU member states should be encouraged to join the Green League, take emissions-reducing actions, and catalogue these efforts so we can incorporate them into both an EU-wide and member state public diplomacy outreach. (b) U.S. Missions Expand Climate-Friendly Activities: Embassies could also participate in a coordinated "Green Embassies Day" to publicize their local efforts and how they fit into a broader agenda, including DOE and DOS cooperation to make Embassies greener (as detailed on EERE website: to access full website, join together the two parts of the following address: "http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/" and "addnews/news detail.cfm/news id=12136", removing the quotations) and other USG efforts, including the Federal Energy Management Program. U.S. Embassies should also participate actively and encourage private partners to participate in Europe-wide campaigns (such as Green Week, Sustainable Energy Week, Sustainable Energy Europe Awards, or others to be scheduled during the Swedish Presidency). Action: Embassies in EU member states, Management Sections, Public Affairs Sections, DOE Public Affairs, Federal Energy Management Program. ¶10. Public awareness theme, five activities: -------------- (a) Amplified public diplomacy on climate themes: Running throughout this initiative is the need to greatly expand our public diplomacy on U.S.-EU alternative energy cooperation. Posts should deploy traditional PD tools to counter the image of the U.S. as lagging behind Europe on addressing climate change. Speakers, DVCs and voluntary visitor programs allow us to break into the news media and into public perceptions with a more balanced picture of what is being done in the United States. USEU officials would continue outreach and speaking programs in EU countries and via DVC to public audiences. U.S. visitors and speakers scheduled for one EU country should be scheduled in others to maximize exposure at minimal additional expense; DVC or media outreach could replace public speaking opportunities where travel is not feasible. Posts should use interactive technologies, such as chats (via their own websites or with think tank and other partners),to pursue the discussion on energy/environment issues with their host country public. Posts could also organize town hall- style events to promote a dialogue between USG officials and European youth audiences, and seek wider dissemination of the event through partnerships with news websites, think tanks or other organizations with broad networks. Traditional press outreach activities could be enhanced by sharing resources electronically Europe-wide. Action: All posts, Brussels Public Diplomacy Hub. STOCKHOLM 00000202 004.2 OF 005 (b) Multiple European Regional International Visitor projects on alternative energy issues, modeled on FY-09 Nordic-Baltic project on this theme: Last year, our Embassies in the Nordic-Baltic region nominated a group of leaders in the alternative energy and energy security fields for a three-week IV program that encouraged regional approaches to these issues. Participants in this and similar exchanges have been surprised by the degree to which the U.S. is developing alternative energy sources, increasing energy efficiency and otherwise defying stereotypes of the U.S. as the "bad guy" on climate change. Undertaken across Europe with 3-4 groups of 10-20 participants from key EU regions, this program could have a large effect on public attitudes while also encouraging consideration of transatlantic cooperation on these issues, especially energy security, on a Europe-wide rather than solely national basis. The dates for this project are flexible, either late in FY09 if additional funding can be found, or early in FY10 if dependent on regular funding. Action: USEU Public Affairs, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. (c) Journalists' tour of U.S. A group of 4-5 journalists from European media outlets (or more if posts fund additional slots for their respective host country media) would visit the U.S. to see examples of successful energy-saving and climate-saving initiatives. They would learn about policy on a federal, state and local level, and how ongoing independent initiatives are contributing to reduction in harmful emissions and saving energy, even if not mandated at any level. USEU would request assistance from the Foreign Press Center to arrange this tour. Action: USEU/PA, PA in all Embassies, Foreign Press Center. (d) Fulbright Alternative Energy Scholars. With funding from a private foundation and support from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Embassy Stockholm was able to establish a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Alternative Energy Technology at Sweden's premier technical university. The scholar has built up cooperation between U.S. and Swedish institutions and scholars while also contributing to the teaching and research programs at his host institution. Creation of similar positions at other European institutions should have a similar impact. Embassy Stockholm would happily share its experiences with getting the funding and the requisite permissions with Embassies interested in looking into this idea. Action: Stockholm and USEU Public Affairs, ECA, all Embassies. (e) Fact sheets on USG programs and successes. To complement fact sheets on U.S. private sector successes in alternative energies, many USG programs and policies could be summarized in a coordinated series of thematic fact sheets on the various facets of climate change and energy policy, to be distributed in conjunction with all other activities. USEU/PA would request assistance from the Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) to design and compile these documents, and to translate as many as possible. Other posts with translation capability would translate their own. Action: USEU, IIP, all Embassies. ¶11. Policy theme, one activity: -------------- (a) Expand the agenda of the Transatlantic Economic Council. Discussions are already underway to add climate and energy technologies to the agenda of the Transatlantic Economic Council. Completing and announcing this decision during the Czech EU Presidency followed by quick implementation with the Swedes will be a strong symbol of the commitment to these issues at the highest levels of economic leadership on both sides of the Atlantic. Action: USEU Economic Section. STOCKHOLM 00000202 005.2 OF 005 Action request: =============== ¶12. USEU and Embassy Stockholm request Department guidance on this proposed initiative. We would like to begin discussions at posts, with the EU and the Government of Sweden, with the goal of jointly announcing this initiative and commencement of some of the activities at the beginning of Sweden's EU Presidency on July 1. SILVERMAN