The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) will
deliver a clear message to policy makers, civil society leaders and
business decision makers in New York during the 74th Session of the UN Assembly and the Climate Action Summit next
week. The Agency will reinforce the fact that limiting climate change
within the 11-year time frame specified by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) is possible, but global energy investments must
pivot away from fossil fuels and into low-carbon technologies such as
renewables.
IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera will participate in a series
of high-level discussions from 22 – 24 September, involving heads of
state and global decision makers from the worlds of policy, diplomacy
and business. Mr. La Camera will engage on issues related to renewable
energy investment and finance, the energy and climate resilience needs
of small island developing states, progress towards the achievement of
the Sustainable Development Goals and the role of youth in climate
change.
As a central theme of his participation, the Director-General will
put forward the case that renewable energy, coupled with energy
efficiency, represents the only plausible and ready instrument to address carbon emissions.
This message will anchor a campaign entitled ‘It’s Possible’
emphasizing that renewable energy can lead the world into a new age of
sustainable development whilst urgently addressing climate change.
The campaign supports UN Secretary-General António Guterres calls for
leaders to come to New York with concrete, realistic plans to enhance
their Nationally Determined Contributions by 2020 in line with reducing
greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent over the next decade, and to net
zero emissions by 2050. IRENA believes Nationally Determined
Contributions can be significantly more ambitious and play a leading
role in accelerating renewable energy development.
IRENA’s role in transforming energy systems on small island developing
states will feature at the Climate Action Summit during which Mr. La
Camera will make an important intervention. IRENA’s SIDS Lighthouses initiative 2.0
launched at last year’s UN General Assembly aims to enable a deeper
transformation of SIDS energy systems by leveraging investment support.
The initiative will serve to strengthen climate resilience and
contribute to the attainment of the sustainable development goals.
Additionally, the Agency will present the findings of a new climate investment report highlighting the need for global energy investments to overwhelmingly pivot away from fossil fuels towards low-carbon technologies including renewables in the coming decades.
IRENA is expected to sign a number of agreements further strengthening its cooperation with intergovernmental organisations as it looks to move closer to on-the-ground implementation in partnership with member states.
