From 1 to 4 June, 2004, Germany  hosted the International Conference for
Renewable Energies Bonn 2004, as announced by Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002 in Johannesburg.
The conference � renewables 2004 �  charted the way towards an expansion of
renewable energies worldwide, responding to the call of the Johannesburg summit
for the global development of renewable energy. It  also kept up the
momentum generated by the coalition of like-minded countries for promotion of
renewable energies (known as the Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition, JREC).
3600 participants  met in Bonn, among them official
governmental delegations including  energy, environmental and development
ministers, representatives of the United Nations and other international and
non-governmental organisations, civil society and the private sector.
renewables 2004  addressed these 
central issues: How can the proportion
of renewable energies used in industrialised and developing countries be
substantially increased, and how can their advantages and potential be better
used? The conference  concentrated in particular on the 
following themes:
 
  - Formation of enabling political framework conditions allowing the market
  development of renewable energies
- Increase in private and public financing in order to secure reliable demand
  for renewable energies
- Human and institutional capacity building, and coordination and
  intensification of research and development.