NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2024 -- Global investment in renewable energy must more than triple over the next six years to meet the 11,000GW capacity target needed to keep 1.5°C within reach, COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said today at the Global Renewables Summit, the first-ever high-level public-private summit focused on the goal of tripling renewable energy globally by 2030.
"Tripling renewable capacity is not just a benchmark, it is an essential enabler of all global efforts to keep 1.5 within reach, advance sustainable prosperity and leave no one behind," Dr. Al Jaber said at the summit, held on the margins of the 79th UN General Assembly in New York.
Tripling global renewable energy capacity was one of the key outcomes of the historic UAE Consensus, the defining point of reference for global climate ambition and sustainable development. Renewable energy has seen "historic expansion" globally in the past 20 years, with capacity increasing eightfold and costs falling more than 80 percent, the COP28 President said, noting that solar power is now cheaper than any other energy source. However, while "trends are moving in the right direction, they just aren't moving fast enough," he said.
"We urgently need to shift gears in three key areas," Dr. Al Jaber said, calling for greater investment in infrastructure, technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), and in the Global South. "We need to more than triple overall investment over the next six years to meet our 2030 target of 11,000GW."
While private-sector investment is critical, "investors need to know that their projects will have a viable grid to plug into, in a viable timeline," the President said, pointing out that grid infrastructures in industrialized countries are often over 60 years old, while in many Global South nations "there are no grids at all."
Governments "must step up" and include specific renewable energy and infrastructure targets in their upcoming Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the President said. They should also implement policies that incentivize private-sector investment, and streamline permitting. "In too many places, the pace of permitting is like driving with the handbrake on, when we need to be accelerating down the highway," he noted.
Technology, particularly AI, could help unlock the key challenges facing renewable energy of intermittency and storage by making grids smarter, enabling them to better map out usage, while predictive maintenance could extend battery life, strengthen transmission infrastructure and strengthen storage capacity, he told delegates. AI could also help integrate baseload and renewable energy sources to maximize carbon efficiency and boost energy security, he said.
"The faster we invest in and apply AI to the energy sector, the faster its benefits can be scaled," Dr. Al Jaber said, highlighting that the UAE is hosting a special forum with tech and energy leaders this November in Abu Dhabi. "These two sectors are simply interdependent," he said.
"The opportunity for sustainable economic prosperity through smarter, greener growth has never been greater but some parts of the world are not seeing a fair share of this opportunity," the President said, pointing out that over 120 developing countries currently attract less than 15 percent of global renewable energy investment.
"When it comes to climate finance, old models must be challenged and new models championed," he told delegates, calling on international financial institutions to make finance more available, accessible and affordable, and for private finance to be incentivized through "innovative" blended models.
Dr. Al Jaber highlighted the Africa Green Investment Initiative, launched last year by the UAE, which is targeting developing 25 renewable energy and storage projects in 14 African nations, as an example of incentivizing investment. He also cited the example of ALTÉRRA, the climate investment fund launched at COP28, which has already deployed US$6.5 billion with investors in projects with a combined portfolio of 40GW.
"There is much more to do to fill the power development gap in the Global South," the President said. "And I would encourage all parties to explore all solutions in collaboration with like-minded partners."
Declaring that "business as usual simply will not work," Dr. Al Jaber called for a "new model of engagement that drives public and private partnership to a new level," along with a "true spirit of solidarity" and a "renewed sense of positivity that views spending on renewables as an investment that will bring significant returns."
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