Strong ties between public and private sectors key to accelerating renewables

The rationale for pursuing 100% renewable energy has become increasingly compelling. As evidenced in a new strategic paper by the International Renewable Energy Agency’s Coalition for Action, Towards 100% Renewable Energy: status, trends and lessons learned, more than 50 countries and over 280 states, regions and cities have already committed to some sort of 100% renewable energy target.

The Coalition, a network of over 80 leading renewable energy players from the private sector, civil society, academia and intergovernmental organization, first discussed the paper during the Public-Private Dialogue at IRENA’s 9th Assembly in mid-January. It highlights what governments and businesses can do to accelerate the transformation towards 100% renewable energy.

The Public-Private Dialogue convened members of the Coalition for Action, IRENA Members and the Legislators Forum for an open discussion on key challenges and opportunities faced by the public and private sectors accelerating the transformation towards 100% renewable energy. It showcased a broad consensus that increased ambitions, as well as their implementation, are already technically feasible and socio-economically beneficial.

“Case studies presented in the white paper point to a broad variety of rationales for pursuing 100% renewable energy, with socio-economic benefits highlighted as one of the key drivers, particularly among regional and local governments”, said Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of IRENA at the opening of the Dialogue. “Achieving these targets will create millions of new jobs, stimulate economic growth, and bring important health benefits through cleaner water and air”.

One of the challenges discussed throughout the dialogue was the importance of legislative frameworks to strengthen the deployment of renewables and the need for greater collaboration between actors, from government representatives to private and public companies to workers and civil society.

Further work will be needed in this area to accelerate the energy transformation, drawing from best practice examples particularly in developing countries.

Original source: IRENA
Published on 05 February 2019