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The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) told participants at the Berlin Dialogue on Energy Transition this week that $5.4 trillion of annual investment is needed to support the global shift to renewables. For his part, Kenyan President William Ruto called for a fair energy partnership between Europe and Africa.
Investment barriers are becoming the biggest obstacle to reaching the global climate goal of 1.5ºC. To achieve this, global investments in the energy transition must quadruple to more than 5 trillion euros (5.42 trillion dollars).
This is one of IRENAs main conclusions in the Global Energy Transition Outlook report, which the agency presented at the Berlin Dialogue on Energy Transition held this week in Germany.
“Two years ago we said that the window of opportunity was closing,” said IRENA Director General Francesco La Camera. "Last year we called for a drastic change in the way we use energy and this year we see no reason to be more optimistic."
In 2022, the share of renewable energy in the global electricity mix exceeded the 80% mark.
“But that is the only positive graph that I show,” said La Camera during the inaugural press conference of the Berlin Dialogue on Energy Transition, which is held every year at the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Berlin, to gather policy makers and renewable energy companies around the world.
IRENA affirmed that the current rate of growth is not enough to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement. By 2030, the share of fossil fuels must be reduced from 79% in 2020 to 60%. To do this, the annual increase in renewable energy would have to triple.
It is not just about expanding generation capacity, since all countries must be involved. A major challenge is addressing inequality in investment. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also pointed to these inequalities, saying that interest rates for investments in some countries are sometimes four times higher than in Germany.
“Thats unfair,” Baerbock said, adding that the major G-7 economies have started creating a World Bank fund for climate investments.
However, investments in renewable energy need companies and buyers of electricity, and not just capital.
"Therefore, development must go hand in hand with investment in renewables," said La Camera.
Kenyan President William Ruto echoed similar sentiments.
“Unlike Europe, Africa must first increase demand,” said Ruto, noting that Africa has enormous potential with electricity generation from renewable energy and a young population, Europe, on the other hand, cannot meet its needs alone. energetic.
Baerbock asserted that the world should not repeat the mistakes of the past, when countries were treated as mere suppliers of raw materials. He pointed to the example of lithium mining in Chile. Currently, much of the worlds supply of lithium comes from Chile. Baerbock noted that 78% of that production goes to China, which in his view is the opposite of supply chain diversification.
“The decisions we make now will affect hundreds of millions of people for the next 1,000 years,” said German State Secretary Jennifer Morgan. |
