We welcome members to our network who are committed to sustainability –economic, social & environmental– and responsible business practices.

PANGEA membership can help your company or organisation to grow!

When new members join, we perform an analysis to determine what they need to get their projects and activities to the next level. This is a personalised evaluation which determines which level of membership is the best choice: Basic, Standard or Premium.

What level of PANGEA membership is right for you?

Please click here to view the PANGEA membership application form & annual membership fees.

For more information, please contact info@pangealink.org

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

About PANGEA: PANGEA (Partners for Euro-African Green Energy) is a non-profit organization based in Brussels, Belgium that promotes sustainable African bioenergy production, investment and policies.  It was registered in Belgium in May 2008 and its members can be found worldwide.

The goal of PANGEA is to build the African bioenergy industry by bringing together all the key players including producers, technology providers, investors, policy makers, researchers and industry experts. Since the industry is very young, there does not yet exist a forum for all of these players to interact, and so they are working independently and inefficiently. PANGEA is working to build a network for all of these players to interact, support each other, and build projects together.

Conference discounts: PANGEA has strategic partnerships with some of the leading industry conference organizing companies in the world and often is able to secure discounts on registration fees for members. The world’s largest bioenergy conference is the World Bioenergy Markets that is held every year in March in Rotterdam. PANGEA members receive a 20% discount on registration fees and are able to display their materials at PANGEA’s booth in the exhibition hall.

Also, for PANGEA’s African members, PANGEA has secured 10 free entrance passes to the World Biofuels Markets conference and is currently in negotiations with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) to provide funding to cover transportation, lodging and per diem costs for these 10 members.

Cost savings/benefit: average conference registration fees €2.000, savings up to €400 plus free display of materials at PANGEA’s booth in the expo hall. For African members, €2.000 savings and perhaps an additional €3.000 in travel and accommodation.

Consulting services: PANGEA monitors all the policy issues surrounding bioenergy worldwide including the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and its associated sustainability criteria which addresses Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC), biodiversity, and default values for biofuel feedstocks. Since the RED requires 10% blending of biofuels into transport fuels in the EU by 2020, and the EU is not capable of producing this amount themselves due to production capacity restrictions, there is a large opportunity for third countries (Africa, India, Brazil, etc.) to export to the EU. They will have to satisfy these criteria and it is important that they are aware of how these policy developments could affect their potential exports and business plans.

PANGEA also monitors developments in the Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels who are currently developing a standard for sustainable biofuels.

Cost savings/benefit: all PANGEA members receive regular updates on policy issues including reports and information on trade and EU market access. This directly effects their decision to export to the EU and their business plans.

Members can request consulting on any issue related to bioenergy that interests them, from organizing a workshop, introductions to potential partners in Europe, Africa, India, US or Brazil, project conceptualization, personalized fundraising, etc.

Premium members receive 15 hours of free consulting per year which is a savings of €180/hr x 15 hr = €2.700

Standard members receive 5 hours of free consulting per year which is a savings of €180/hr x 5 hr = €900

Office space in Brussels: PANGEA members have access to PANGEA’s office space (workstation, desk, internet connection, meeting rooms & catering) in the Brussels Sustainable House, Mundo-b, located near all of the European Institutions, whenever they are in Brussels.

Cost savings/benefit: The office space allows the PANGEA member to host meetings, workshops/events or work in the office while they are in Brussels to meet with key stakeholders, clients, or European decision makers. The average cost of an office of this quality in Brussels is €1500/mo = €50/day. For PANGEA members, this office is free of charge.

Funding opportunities: PANGEA monitors the European Institutions, Member States and International Organizations who regularly publish Calls for Proposals for project funding. PANGEA members receive regular alerts when these funding calls are announced and can assist members in the funding process for additional fees including: project conceptualization, concept note development and submission, full proposal development and submission, project management and contract/workshop meetings in Brussels, etc.

Cost savings/benefit: Drafting and submitting Concept Notes and Full Proposal for funding from the European Commission is very expensive. The average price for hiring a consulting firm in Brussels to draft and submit a full proposal is €10.000 plus a 3-5% success fee from the total funding award. PANGEA has several years of experience drafting these proposals and charges its members very reasonable fees.

For example, a full proposal for a €1.5 million grant from the European Commission:

Average consulting firm: €10.000 + €45.000 (3% success fee) = €55.000

PANGEA members: €5.000 + €15.000 (1% success fee) = €20.000

Savings = €35.000

Member Promotion/Networking: PANGEA has a large contact base of industry leaders, policy makers, and experts. It currently has over 300 contacts and is continually growing. PANGEA regularly sends out announcements, alerts and email blasts to promote its members’ achievements or announcements. PANGEA members can instantly reach hundreds of new contacts and generate increased interest in their activities or seek information or partnerships from the network.

Cost savings/benefit: Typical Brussels-based public relations firms charge a monthly retainer typically between €5.000 and €10.000 per month for communications activities. At the very least, hourly activities are billed at between €150 and €200 per hour, while PANGEA publishes for free all of the members’ news that they receive.

Members Only website: The PANGEA Members Only Website is an information portal that is regularly updated with exclusive Members Only information including: funding opportunities, reports from meetings, conferences and workshops attended by PANGEA staff around the globe, press releases, studies on a variety of topics, and copies of the PANGEA quarterly newsletters and annual reports.

Cost savings/benefit: The costs related to having a Brussels-based staff to monitor Parliament, go to meetings and conferences and write up reports could be anywhere between €40.000 and €60.000 just for the salary for a single person to do the activities that are included in PANGEA member benefits. As a trade association, PANGEA acts as “our office in Brussels” for each of its members, not just in the physical sense but in the content sense as well.

PANGEA MEMBER TESTIMONIALS

“We are very happy with our PANGEA membership. We have been exposed to a wealth of relevant information, been introduced to a host of relevant contacts and been given extensive guidance in connection with our specific initiatives in Africa. It is increasingly clear that PANGEA is uniquely well positioned on the African biofuels scene – and thus a valuable partner to anyone wishing to venture into that market.”

“Being a member of PANGEA has been a true asset for our company. The PANGEA team is well connected, informed and involved in what is going on in the biofuels sector, with specific focus on Africa and Europe. PANGEA has been extremely helpful in connecting on conferences with relevant persons for our business. As a member we receive member exclusive alerts on funding and other opportunities.” – Quinvita (Formerly D1 Oils PLC), Belgium

“As a PANGEA member, I am entitled to receive exclusive alerts for funding opportunities, and industry workshops/conferences with sponsorship and speaking opportunities on a wide range of topics. I will not hesitate to highly recommend membership to organizations in the biofuel industry.” – Cassava Agro Industries Services Limited, Nigeria

“Project Gaia has profited greatly from being a PANGEA member. We can go to no better source for information about ethanol markets, supply, projected new capacity, and moreover, what is really happening in Africa—information that is almost impossible to obtain elsewhere. We appreciate PANGEA’s balanced but Afro-sensitive approach to biofuels development and policy in and for Africa, and we appreciate PANGEA’s interest in small scale ethanol and the household energy market— overlooked by most others.” – Project Gaia Inc., USA