4 November 2022
As the world slowly emerges from the shadows of COVID-19, other problems haunt the news headlines: rising energy prices, the war in Ukraine, fears over energy security and the constant undertow of the devastating climate crisis.
No one on this planet can hope to escape the climate crisis. From the Americas to Asia, and from Europe to Africa, people and communities are already suffering. As the clock ticks, it sometimes feels as if we have waited until the midnight hour before acting. The window of opportunity is now vanishingly small. With each passing day, the costs of inaction outpace the costs of action.
But this is a race we dare not lose, one in which everyone on this planet must cross the finish line together. Nothing short of profound and immediate action can keep us in the desperate dash to maintain global warming below 1.5°C, or even the far deadlier 2°C—a temperature where humanity and ecosystems will lose out in a catastrophic cascade of deadly tipping points.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is at the forefront of calls for an inclusive, resilient and fair energy transition. We are urging bold, collective action uniting developed and developing, transitional and emerging countries as well as small island States.
IRENA is convinced that only by accelerating action on renewables is it possible to provide climate resilience, build energy security for all, and promote global economic growth and social inclusion.
We are helping. IRENA is working closely with countries on empowering decision-makers and developing policies encouraging the massive scaling-up of investments in renewable energy projects.
We stand on the cusp of COP 27—the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 6 to 18 November 2022. If we are to stay on the 1.5°C pathway, the world needs to follow a blueprint similar to the one already outlined in the second edition of the IRENA World Energy Transition Outlook.
The plan calls for supercharging green financing, which must become the standard and not the exception. Today, only 6 per cent of the $15 trillion in G20 recovery funding in 2020 and 2021 was channelled towards clean energy. This is not enough. Much more is needed.
Greater participation from the private sector is also essential if we are to mobilize funds and power the energy transition. Local energy supplies must be diversified. Eight out of 10 people on this planet live in net energy-importing countries. That is far too many.
The current dependence on fossil fuels is also a potential accelerant poured onto the inflationary bonfire many countries are now suffering.
Embracing new, renewable options can remove the global craving for fossil fuels and protect nations from the highly volatile ebb and flow of energy markets. Now is also a time for reflection and reassessment: collectively we must ask ourselves if we have the policies and financing networks to turn investments into action on the ground.
New platforms such as the IRENA Energy Transition Accelerator Platform—ETAF—can help forge fresh ways of facilitating action and build new alliances among the global North and South. Calamity is ever-present, but even before the steep plunge towards climate chaos there are opportunities to step back. We must take them.
Collaboration is crucial. Together youth, civil society and the private sector have a role. Their penetrating voices can help the world understand that renewable energy is part of the solution to the climate crisis.
At COP 27 in Egypt, IRENA will hold a CEO Roundtable meeting of the Alliance for Industry. The Roundtable will serve as a platform for Alliance members to share their decarbonization commitments, visions and strategies, all of which can contribute to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and limiting rising global temperatures to 1.5°C.
IRENA is also working closely with Egypt in its capacity as the COP 27 President to advance its energy priorities, and is supporting the High-Level Champions and the Marrakesh Partnership for Global Climate Action.
As we move closer to the “implementation” COP at Sharm el-Sheikh, our goal must be to deliver bold action on the ground. Our words are not enough.
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