IRENA Members Drive Global Energy Action on the Road to COP28

IRENA membership took stock of energy transition progress towards Paris Agreement goals and identified priorities to drive action at COP28 and beyond.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 14 January – Short-term actions must be given top priority to urgently accelerate the energy transition in the coming years and course correct the 1.5°C pathway to 2050. This is the message sent by energy leaders from the 13^th IRENA Assembly, the first milestone on the global energy agenda of 2023 which kick-started with a high-level discussion on “World Energy Transition – The Global Stocktake.”

The first Global Stocktake at COP28 later this year represents a pivotal point to identify gaps and opportunities for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Set out in the Agreement, it assesses the collective progress towards achieving the long-term climate goals and forms the basis to define immediate priority actions to devise a practical way forward over the next seven years till 2030.

At the Assembly, IRENA members confirmed their readiness to fully support the UAE’s COP28 Presidency by establishing the latest knowledge on the renewable-based energy transition and leveraging the international cooperation through the Agency’s global platform. Building a common understanding about what the roadmap to 2030 must look like is critical to drive a global energy agenda.

Energy leaders from governments, private sector and international organisations provided insights on priority actions needed over the next few years, given the 2030 timeline for halving emissions and achieving the sustainable development goals. Discussions concluded that:

• The world is not on track to reach climate and development goals and is even regressing in some instances. Action cannot be delayed and must be taken with already available solutions.
• While every country is different, each must find a way to balance national priorities with short- and long-term goals to accelerate the world’s nationally driven actions.
• The Global Stocktake is an important process. What is equally important is to find common agreement on the global priorities after COP28 in Dubai.
• IRENA remains the global energy transitions platform to drive action at faster pace.

“Although energy transitions are progressing around the world”, IRENA’s Director-General Francesco La Camera said, “efforts must be accelerated, while ensuring that benefits are evenly spread across countries and communities. International cooperation will play a vital role in ensuring that all countries have an opportunity to accelerate the deployment of climate-proof technologies and secure the needed investment to achieve their goals. IRENA’s membership offers a unique platform to drive a global energy agenda at COP28 and beyond.”

Energy has an outsized impact on the delivery of climate action. IRENA’s World Energy Transitions Outlook lays out a direction to stay on the path to 2050. It stresses that staying on this path depends on sufficient action by 2030 and shows that the technologies to make such progress already exist.

The Outlook positions efficiency and electrification as primary drivers, enabled by renewable power, green hydrogen, and sustainable modern bioenergy. Crucially, it places significant focus on policies and socio-economic implications to provide the necessary nuance for diverse circumstances of individual countries and regions.

Through IRENA’s contribution to the Global Stocktake, the Agency continues to demonstrate that renewables-based energy transitions are technically feasible, economically viable and, if properly managed, a source of solutions to policy priorities such as job creation, industrial development, energy security and universal access, among others.