CH-4001 Basel, phone
+41 61 274 0480 fax: +41 61 271 10 10
e-mail:
base@energy-base.org
www.energy-base.org
Press release
Contact: Virginia Sonntag-O‘Brien
BASE - BASEL AGENCY FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY – founded
Trinational foundation and cooperation partner of the
UN’s Environmental Program promotes the financing and market development of
sustainable energy
BASEL, Switzerland, May 16, 2001 – An international agency to promote sustainable
energy – BASE – has been founded in Basel. BASE’s goal is to promote
investments in energy efficiency and energy-saving technology and renewable
energy. BASE is a
tri-national foundation. The founders are Basel’s foundation Oekomedia, the German
foundation Canopus Foundation, and the French "Centre pour la Coopération
dans le Rhin Supérieur". BASE’s headquarters are in Basel, and regional offices will be opened in
Freiburg, Germany and Colmar, France at the beginning of 2002.
Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the UN’s Environmental
Program (UNEP), initiated the founding of BASE. On
March 13, 2001, BASE became a cooperative partner of UNEP when Prof. Töpfer and
Ms Barbara Schneider, chief official of the Canton of Basel City, signed an
agreement.
BASE aims to
bundle this tri-national region’s know-how and experience in the field of
renewable energy with the strength of Switzerland in financing and link it to
the UN’s global Environmental Program and its planned network of centers for
sustainable energy. BASE is to promote the market development of energy
efficiency and renewable energy both in developing and developed nations.
“The global energy market is gigantic, much greater than the IT market”
states Virginia Sonntag-O’Brian, BASE’s executive manager. “The challenge is in directing a considerable part
of the enormous investments expected in the next 20 years into clean,
sustainable energy projects.”
BASE acts as an intermediary looking for investors for projects and
projects for investors. The International Investment Forum for Renewable Energy, which will be taking place on September 19, 2001 within the context of the SUN21 Energy Congress in
Basel, will bring investors and project developers together so they can talk
directly about the success of various projects and financing possibilities. Governments, local authorities, companies and
individuals in Switzerland, Germany and France support the BASE Foundation. BASE is open for partners from any country.