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Connected mobility in local and long-distance public transport, car sharing, autonomous vehicles – all of this can foster sustainable mobility. Smart electricity meters help consumers to better monitor and control their power consumption. The ecological and economic benefits of these new technologies are evident: consumers use less energy and resources and save money. This creates substantial market opportunities for providers.However, I do not want to paint too rosy a picture. It takes considerable effort to put any innovation into practice, even in a highly developed country like Germany. In the case of smart electricity meters, people wonder: what does the electricity company know about me; what about data protection? We have questions on insulation, about which we’ve been discussing promotion instruments for a very long time but have never been successful across the board. However, progress has been made – sometimes slowly, sometimes a bit quicker. I can therefore only encourage everyone to embark upon this path.The development of renewable energies continues to advance around the world. There is good news to report from many countries. I would like to give you just a few examples. China is the world’s biggest investor in the development of renewable energies. India recently decided to construct another 50 solar farms. This has brought the country closer to its target of generating 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022. Kenya is currently building a wind farm with 365 wind turbines, which can cover up to 20 percent of Kenya’s energy requirements. It has now been possible to give two thirds of the population access to electricity. When I look at the number of African countries where access to energy is under 25 per cent, then I realise that solar and wind energy presents us with a huge opportunity to generate electricity on a decentralised basis and thus enable many people to have access to electricity for the first time. Of course, I am especially happy about the situation in Kenya; for during Germany’s G7 Presidency we advocated the active promotion of the development of renewable energies in Africa.In the G20, too, we are now focusing more on Africa. We want to mobilise more private investment within that forum, with a view to fostering sustainable development. However, it is difficult to mobilise investment without any electricity. It is therefore important this goes hand in hand. Even though advances in technology have considerably reduced the cost of developing renewable energies and even though electricity generated with renewable energies is cheaper than electricity generated from fossil fuels in many countries, starting capital is always needed to advance renewable energies, as well as climate-friendly investment in general. Donor countries, financial institutions, development Pictured: The G20 Leaders at the 12th G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, on 7 July 2017024 THE G20 MEMBER COUNTRIES