Energy transition: ministers meet in Paris – 02/13/2024 – Market

Financing the global energy transition will require more innovation, both technological and financial, said some of the more than 30 Energy or Climate ministers who met in Paris this Tuesday (13) to debate how to tackle this mission.

To address the global warming that is occurring right now, the energy world must evolve toward greater innovation, urged United States Climate Emissary John Kerry.

At the meeting, which runs until Wednesday (14) on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the International Energy Agency (IEA), based in Paris, ministers from Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Singapore, Ukraine, among others, also attended.

“It is time for diplomats and environment ministers to leave room for energy ministers, industry ministers and researchers” to move forward in the fight against global warming, declared Irish minister Eamon Ryan, who co-chairs the meeting.

This is the first high-level international meeting since COP28 held in December in Dubai, where the international community agreed on an energy transition that would allow us to progressively abandon fossil fuels, which emit greenhouse gases responsible for warming the planet.

Eamon Ryan highlighted before the meeting what he called the important role of Brazil, which will assume the presidency of the G20 in 2024 and will host COP30 in 2025, after the edition scheduled for the end of this year in Azerbaijan.

“No coal plants”

“We must deploy existing, cost-effective technologies as quickly as possible,” especially in the field of renewable energy, and “we must bring new technologies to market more quickly,” Kerry said.

The American was referring to technologies, not all of which have been proven, to save or use energy more efficiently, capture CO2, store electricity or produce hydrogen.

“Why? Because this year is hotter than the last. And next year will be hotter than this year. […] It’s proven,” he added.

The director of the AIE, Fatih Birol, highlighted that “despite the enormous increase in clean energy, such as wind and solar, it is not enough to achieve the objectives set for 2050”.

According to the AIE, the “clean energy” market will represent US$ 1 trillion (R$ 4.95 trillion) in ten years.

“Knowing what we know and given the reality of climate change, there should not be a single coal-fired power plant operating anywhere in the world,” declared John Kerry.

According to the IEA, the world needs to invest US$4.5 trillion (R$22.3 trillion) per year until 2030, if it wants to develop alternative energies to fossil fuels, which stop emitting CO2 that heats the atmosphere.

“Emerging and developing countries must invest at least US$2.2 trillion [R$ 10,9 trilhões] every year”, estimates the agency.

In addition to renewable energies, “interconnection networks”, “clean technology companies” and “supply chains” also need massive investments, considered the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

The French Minister of Economy, Industry and Energy, Bruno Le Maire, who co-chairs the meeting, called for more creativity in matters of finance and stated that “it is no longer possible to rely on public debt in Europe”.

“We need to rely on private financing,” he added.

The meeting will conclude on Wednesday with a communiqué that will establish the mandate “for the next two years” of this intergovernmental organization.

The IEA, linked to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), is made up of many oil-importing countries and was created in the midst of the oil crisis in the 1970s.