Teresa Ribera calls for accelerating the energy transition process and taking advantage of investors’ interest in clean technologies

The Vice-President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge chairs the 12th Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Association (IRENA)

He stresses that “we have lived with enormous satisfaction the fact that, despite the crisis, the presence of renewable energies, photovoltaic and wind, has not stopped growing”

“The interest, the investor appetite of large and small, the participation through local energy communities, the massive deployment of solar roofs or renewable solutions associated with the growing penetration of electric mobility are some of the keys that should not let us go in other directions at this time”

The Vice President and Minister for the Energy Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, has underlined the need to advance quickly in the decarbonization process during the Assembly of the International Association of Renewable Energies (IRENA): “If we do not accelerate our energy transition processes and bet on efficiency and renewables, we can return to experience bottlenecks such as those that are being suffered at the moment or, even, unfortunately, punctual regressions that make us think again about the return to heavier, more CO2-intensive fossil fuels”.

Ribera, exercising the Presidency of the 12th Assembly of IRENA, held in Abu Dhabi, has intervened telematically due to the health restrictions imposed by the pandemic. The vice president has valued that, despite the difficult circumstances, “we have lived with enormous satisfaction the fact that the presence of renewable energies, photovoltaic and wind, has not stopped growing”. In 2020, the last year with data, the global installation of renewables grew by 50%, with about 260 GW.

The vice president has alluded to the problems for the economic recovery of the pandemic: “We have lived the effects of a recovery in which, in a very short time, large economies of the world simultaneously asked for the same raw materials, the same resources to be able to recover that industrial benefit”, specifying its impact on prices: “That economic pulse has generated tensions in some of the most relevant commodity markets, such as gas.”

MASS DEPLOYMENT, ABOVE SCHEDULE

As a result, “it is an opportunity, therefore, to call for the massive, generalized, agile, rapid deployment, even above what we had programmed in terms of energy transition, in terms of penetration of renewable energies,” Ribera said.

In this sense, he pointed out that “the interest, the investment appetite of large and small, the participation through local energy communities, the massive deployment of solar roofs or renewable solutions associated with the growing penetration of electric mobility are some of the keys that should not let us go in other directions at this time”.

And he added that “international solidarity in this regard, participation and collaboration for deployment and innovation in those technologies that are not yet mature will be the ones that give us the answers of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow”.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Ribera has highlighted the work of IRENA’s 167 member states, their commitment to accelerating the energy transition and their influence on the international fight against global warming. “I would like to point out how impressed I am by all the achievements made by the Agency and IRENA members despite the challenges we continue to face.”

“As members of IRENA,” he added, “we have the advantage of being one step ahead in becoming aware of the challenges that lie ahead, and of understanding what needs to be done to meet our imperatives and move towards sustainability and resilience,” and encouraged us to persevere: “Let’s continue to be one step ahead and take a leap towards the path of 1.5 degrees, “we encouraged us to persevere: “Let’s continue to be one step ahead and take a leap towards the path of 1.5 degrees”, alluding to the objective of the Paris Agreement.

“I count on all of you so that together we can continue to move forward and renewable energies change geopolitics to a world of peace, stability, progress and development,” he concluded.

TRANSFER OF THE PRESIDENCY

The Vice-President ceded the Presidency of the IRENA Assembly to Alexandra Hill Tinoco, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, and thanked the Vice-Presidents of the Eleventh Assembly, Albania, Costa Rica, Ghana and India, for their important contributions.

Source: MITECO