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The high-level group of leaders on energy, climate and finance will be chaired by UN Special Envoy Michael R. Bloomberg and co-chaired by Indonesian Minister Arifin Tasrif and Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Teresa Ribera Rodríguez.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) today announced that a High-Level Advisory Group of world leaders in energy, climate and finance, chaired by UN Special Envoy Michael R. Bloomberg, will provide insight for an upcoming IEA special report that will explore how to put the world’s coal emissions on a path to net zero amid major energy affordability and security challenges that are impacting to countries around the world with particularly severe economic impacts on the developing world.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol convened the high-level advisory group to offer recommendations for the IEA’s new flagship report: Coal in the Net Zero Global Transition: Strategies for Rapid, Safe and People-Centered Change, to be published in the fourth quarter of 2022. The report will provide the first authoritative assessment of how to address one of the biggest energy challenges The high-level group of leaders in energy, climate and finance will be chaired by UN Special Envoy Michael R. Bloomberg and co-chaired by Indonesian Minister Arifin Tasrif and Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Teresa Ribera Rodriguez and climate of the world in the global landscape changed as a result of the invasion.
of Ukraine by Russia. The advisory group will be chaired by Michael R. Bloomberg, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions and founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and co-chaired by Arifin Tasrif, Indonesia’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, who currently holds the G20 Presidency, and Teresa Ribera Rodriguez, Vice-President of the Government and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge of Spain.
Members of the group will include Mafalda Duarte, executive director of the Climate Investment Funds; Patrick Graichen , German State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Action; Aditya Mittal , CEO of Arcelor Mittal; Daniel Mminele, Head of the South African Presidential Climate Finance Task Force; Gary Nagle, CEO of Glencore; Ahmed Saeed, Vice President of the Asian Development Bank; Kadri Simson, Commissioner for Energy of the European Union; Gurdeep Singh, President and CEO of NTPC; Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources of Canada; and Zhang Lei, CEO of Envision Group. The group will meet twice before the publication of the report.
The emerging global energy crisis driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has laid bare the challenges countries face in ensuring reliable, sustainable and affordable energy supplies in a complex and uncertain geopolitical environment. In addition to hurting consumers and businesses around the world, especially in developing economies, turmoil in global energy markets threatens to derail efforts to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Last year, global energy-related CO2 emissions recovered to their highest level in history, largely due to the record use of coal to generate electricity.
At the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last November, countries agreed to accelerate efforts to phase out coal power as part of the Glasgow Climate Pact. The IEA’s new special report is part of the Agency’s work supporting the implementation of the agreements reached in Glasgow while taking into account the affordability and energy security challenges that have intensified dramatically since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Managing the move away from coal will not be easy. Renewable energy options are the most cost-effective new sources of electricity generation in most markets, but there are still multiple challenges to reducing emissions from the existing global fleet of coal-fired power plants while maintaining safe and affordable electricity supplies. Increased financial flows and new financing mechanisms will be essential to reduce carbon emissions in electricity generation worldwide, and innovation in areas such as carbon capture will be key in many industrial sectors.
Addressing the consequences of change for vulnerable workers, communities and consumers will also require dedicated and determined political efforts.
This is especially the case in developing economies where demand for electricity is growing rapidly, coal is often the main fuel for power generation, and the relentless use of coal in the industrial sector is on the rise.
Many of these challenges have become even more acute in recent months amid sharp increases in the prices of energy and other crucial commodities, such as cereals and other staple foods, which have reached all-time highs over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is putting more pressure on the already fragile financial situation of many developing economies. It also risks pushing the transformation of the energy sector down the political agenda in countries around the world.
“We live in extremely difficult times: the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken the global energy system and is fueling a harmful and unnecessary cost-of-living crisis felt with greater pain by those who can least afford it, especially in developing economies,” said Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the IEA. “At the same time, we cannot lose sight of the climate crisis which, if left unchecked, will bring even greater disruption and suffering. That’s why our new report is critical: providing practical steps to reduce coal emissions to net zero in a way that is fair to emerging and developing economies, and ensures safe and affordable energy for all. I am very grateful to the distinguished members of this high-level group for agreeing to offer their valuable advice and viewpoints from a variety of different perspectives.”
“We need to move the world beyond coal-fired power plants as quickly as possible, which requires ending the subsidies that underpin them and accelerating the deployment of clean energy,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions. . “I look forward to working with the International Energy Agency to accelerate the reduction of harmful emissions, and to do so in a way that strengthens economic growth and energy security.”
At COP26, Mr. Bloomberg announced a new effort by Bloomberg Philanthropies to work with countries around the world to shut down a quarter of the world’s remaining coal plants and all proposed coal plants by 2025, including by advancing clean energy projects to replace them.
“It is critical that we share a common understanding of how we undertake coal transitions globally, in a way that not only reduces emissions, but also places national contexts within fair and equitable approaches to this process,” said Arifin Tasrif, Minister of Energy and Energy.
Mineral resources of Indonesia . “For this reason, I am honored to co-chair this eminent Advisory Group convened by the IEA.”
“We will accelerate the energy transition for both climate security and security of supply. A just and balanced energy transition means taking care of the regions and coal mining and thermoelectric workers, providing alternatives and opportunities to transform their economies,” said Teresa Ribera, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge of Spain. “In Spain, we have reduced 90% of coal-fired power generation in just three years. Spain’s Just Transition Agreements – merging companies, trade unions and government – facilitate the change of energy model in coal regions, provide new employment opportunities and create green industry.”
The special report will offer recommendations on how policymakers can achieve reductions in coal use without undermining economic growth and energy security, including measures to mobilize financing and address the social aspects of the transition. It will build on the IEA’s main reports Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector and Financing Clean Energy Transitions in Emerging and Developing Economies, and will contribute to international efforts to implement the Glasgow Climate Pact. It will also build on the IEA’s recent analysis and recommendations in response to the energy crisis sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the 10-point plan to reduce the European Union’s dependence on Russian natural gas. 10-point plan to reduce oil use and Play my part: how to save money, reduce dependence on Russian energy, support Ukraine and help the planet.
In addition to the strategic guidance provided by the High-Level Advisory Group, the special report will be reviewed and reflect feedback from a variety of relevant stakeholders from across government, industry, finance, academia and civil society.
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Source: IEA
Oficina Barcelona
C. Roger de Llúria, 113 4º
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93 004 75 17
info@empresaclima.org