Renewables Can Lead the World’s Response to Climate Change

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 74^th 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.