Cop: Irena DG sees tripling renewables goal agreed at summit

Dubai, 2 December (Argus) — The Cop 28 UN climate summit's final declaration is likely to contain language on tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, as 111 countries taking part in the talks in Dubai have already said they would support the “ambitious pledge”, International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) director general Francesco La Camera told Argus.

La Camera said that more countries will come on board and support the addition of the renewable pledge in the Cop 28 final text. The conversation has moved to “consolidating the pledge into the final declaration”, La Camera told Argus on the sidelines of an event for the African Partnership for Renewables in Africa (APRA).

G20 leaders in September agreed to pursue tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030 from 2019 levels, and Cop 28 president Sultan al-Jaber made this ambition a key goal for this year's climate summit.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres reiterated his call for countries to commit to phasing out fossil fuels with a clear timeline, as well as tripling renewables capacity and doubling energy efficiency.

Greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 43pc and methane by a third by 2030 in order to not exceed the 1.5°C limit, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said.

But La Camera warned that the call to triple renewable energy capacity “is just the beginning of the story” as countries still have to lay out clear plans to hit that target and overcome major hurdles.

“Our narrative [at Irena] is the overcoming of the three main barriers that we see may slow down the pace,” he said.

The existing energy infrastructure is the first obstacle, according to La Camera, “because it has been made for the old energy system” which is reliant on fossil fuels. A new interconnected, balanced and flexible grid is required, he said.

Then comes the legal environment and the policy measures. “[Some countries] are talking about phasing out fossil fuels, but first they have to phase out the demand for them,” he added. “We need policies that may favour switching the demand from fossil fuels to other [sources of energy],” he said, adding that the world also needs to build the skills for a new energy system.

“The narrative after Cop 28 should be how to overcome those barriers for ensuring more money heads into renewables,” he said.

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