For a two-year period, the World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP) will be under Danish leadership. The Mayor of Esbjerg Municipality, Jesper Frost Rasmussen, has just been appointed President of the association consisting of 19 major energy cities from around the world.

This week, the mayors of the global association of energy cities gathered in Houston, USA for the 2022 WECP Working Group Meetings. During these meetings, one of the key agenda items was the election of a new President. Leading up to the meetings, Mayor Jesper Frost Rasmussen from Esbjerg Municipality chose to make himself available to the association as a candidate and was elected during Tuesday’s Board Meeting.

Esbjerg became a member of the World Energy Cities Partnership in 2013 after being nominated by Stavanger, Esbjerg’s twin city. At the time, Esbjerg’s candidacy was unanimously approved at the annual general meeting in Dongying, China. Since then, Esbjerg has been an extremely active member city in the association, and the membership has emphasized Esbjerg’s identity as the undisputed Danish Energy Metropolis.

Support for the Danish ambitions
Former WECP President and Lord Provost of Aberdeen, Barney Crockett, and Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston both supported Jesper Frost Rasmussen’s bid for presidential candidacy. Jesper Frost Rasmussen has also served as Vice President of the World Energy Cities Partnership since 2019 and knows the organization very well.

Esbjerg has on several occasions welcomed delegations from the other member cities. This is because Esbjerg, despite the city’s size, has played an important role in expanding the WECP’s focus from being exclusively on oil and gas to also including renewable energy and the transition to more sustainable energy sources.

“I am happy and proud of the declaration of confidence shown by the other member cities, as they unanimously point to me as president. For Esbjerg, the membership has worked as a unique showcase, where our green transformation has inspired the other cities. Although Esbjerg cannot compete with some of the other member cities in terms of size, they have listened carefully when I have talked about what our companies can do and how far Denmark is ready to go in relation to achieving specific climate goals,” says Mayor Jesper Frost Rasmussen.

In addition to participating in the WECP meetings, Mayor Jesper Frost Rasmussen will also visit the Danish Royal Consulate in Houston and the company RelyOn Nutecs, which is present in both Houston and Esbjerg.

A Visit to the President’s hometown

The next official event in the WECP calendar will take place in Esbjerg in October this year – the 2022 WECP Annual General Meeting. As President and host, Mayor Jesper Frost Rasmussen looks forward to welcoming the delegations led by the cities’ mayors.

At the announcement of the hosting of the organization’s AGM, Minister of Climate, Energy and Supply Dan Jørgensen said:

“It is a huge pat on the back for Esbjerg’s green work that the city will host the meeting between the world’s leading energy cities. Esbjerg has developed into a green energy metropolis in Northern Europe, just as the people of Esbjerg are at the forefront of a fair green transition when thousands of oil jobs in the coming years will be replaced with jobs in, among other things, the wind industry and green fuels. I am sure that the meeting between the world’s leading energy cities can inspire even more green solutions on the West Coast and around the world “.

The overall theme for the Annual General Meeting in 2022 will be – Energy transition based on public and private partnerships.

With that as a starting point, there will be plenty of opportunities to showcase some of the unique solutions that are on the way in Esbjerg these years.