Governments and stakeholders worldwide are taking voluntary actions within their own spheres of competence and responsibility to advance and benefit from renewable energy. While informal unilateral action by governments cannot replace binding action agreed in the dedicated multilateral policy processes, it does provide an alternative or “soft” approach that should be encouraged in parallel to formal or “hard” action. The voluntary actions that have been taken since the Bonn conference in 2004 have proved to be flexible and feasible, while at the same time significant. They have led to many far-reaching commitments with a large scope and impact. Non-governmental stakeholders have engaged in this bottom-up-approach just as well as governments.

Since its inception, REN21 has promoted voluntary action as a powerful and flexible way to advance renewable energy uptake worldwide. Governments, international organisations, research institutions, private companies, industry associations, and civil society groups all have their role to play in designing policies, deploying technologies, expanding markets, advancing research, providing education, offering advice, building capacity, and raising awareness.

2004: International Action Programme

One of the major outcomes of the Renewables 2004 Conference held in Bonn in June 2004 was the International Action Programme (IAP). The IAP includes some 200 concrete actions and commitments towards developing renewable energies, which were put forward by a large number of governments, international organisations and stakeholders from civil society, the private sector and other stakeholder groups.

2008: Washington International Action Programme

The Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) in March 2008 produced a similar programme, called the Washington International Action Programme (WIAP). This collection of some 145 pledges constituted the major result of WIREC 2008. Featuring many ambitious high-impact pledges, the WIAP reflects the dynamic observed in the renewable energy sector over recent years, which one could describe as a paradigm shift from ‘start-up phase’ to ‘upscale phase’. Governments had submitted a variety of bold policy commitments, targets, and long-term programmes, in order to unfold a lasting effect on political and economic framework conditions.

2010: Delhi International Action Programme

In conjunction with the Delhi International Renewable Energy Conference (DIREC), the host government of India together with REN21 is honoured to invite governments and other stakeholders to pledge voluntary actions towards advancing renewable energy deployment and policy development. The theme of this year’s Pledge Programme is ‘mainstreaming’ renewable energy into the development of a low carbon pathway. Furthermore, because DIREC is being held in India, which like many countries faces enormous challenges as regards providing its population with electricity and energy services, pledges that target deploying renewable energy in rural areas are particularly encouraged. In implementing those pledges, countries can share good policy practice and business models to overcome these challenges.

The Renewables International Action Programme

Today, REN21 maintains a database of all pledges that were submitted at both the Bonn and Washington conferences. This database provides governments and stakeholders in all parts of the world with an inspiring source of information on specific steps they could take to advance the uptake of renewable energy. The Renewables International Action Programme (RIAP) has been set-up as a new opportunity for governments and stakeholders to submit further pledges. At the same time, it is the framework under which REN21 informs its network about voluntary pledges made. It comprises all existing IAP and WIAP pledges in a standard format for easy reference, and also includes new commitments made by stakeholders who wish to inform the international community about their activities. New pledges can be submitted at any time: fill the pledge submission form online.

Reporting Your Progress

We encourage partners of the Renewables International Action Programme to submit progress reports to the REN21 Secretariat on an ongoing basis, to ensure the latest status of your pledge is communicated effectively among the stakeholders worldwide. We are happy to inform the community about your success in advancing renewable energy.

We are currently calling all WIAP participants in particular to provide progress updates (submission form) to allow the REN21 Secretariat to compile an implementation report for the one year anniversary of the Washington Conference.