WCRE Press Release, November, 27th, 2005

... using structures of the fossil fuel industry
Swiss parliamentarian reveals energy data manipulations by the International Energy Agency (IEA)

On the occassion of the 2nd International Parliamentary Forum on Renewable Energies in Bonn, Dr. Hermann Scheer, President of the Forum and German member of parliament, declared: "The call for international support to solve the global energy crises is louder than ever". At the 2nd International Parliamentary Forum on Renewable Energies, parliamentarians from 50 countries agreed that the proliferation and application of renewable energies could only be reached through a separate new international institution.

On the first day of the conference, the German minister for the environment, Mr Sigmar Gabriel, and the minister of economy and energy of North Rhine-Westphalia, Ms Christa Thoben, stated their support of an International Agency for Renewable Energies (IRENA) to be founded.

"This unmistakable signal sent from Bonn is making governments aware of the necessity of establishing an International Agency for Renewable Energies", says Hermann Scheer. "The Parliamentarians convening in Bonn will convince their governments to join the initiative for the creation of an International Renewable Energy Agency."

In his well received presentation, the Swiss Parliamentarian (National Council) Mr Rudolf Rechsteiner revealed how the International Energy Agency (IEA) had systematically undervalued the potential of renewables and had consequently deluded governments and the public with false data on prices and resources.

Rechsteiner: "IEA is working like a lobby organization for the fossil and nuclear energy industry, acting just as though it were paid by the industry and not by the tax payers of the IEA member states." Manipulative IEA estimates are misleading governments and investors worldwide. "Like planned economies of the Communist Block, the data and outlooks of the IEA always appear good - but do not reflect reality", said Rechsteiner.

"Promoting renewable energy expansion and technology transfer via fossil IEA structures would be a dangerous misdirection", concludes Scheer. "Only by creating an International Agency for Renewable Energies as a separate entity can we push renewables forward to a global breakthrough. This was conclusively proved by Rechsteiner’s analysis."

The 2nd International Parliamentary Forum takes place in the framework of the World Renewable Energy Assembly (WREA), which has started on November 26th in Bonn. For more information please refer to www.wrea2005.org and www.ipf2005.org.