IRENA Legislators' Dialogue — Renewables as an enabler of services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Building on the experience of the IRENA Legislators' Forum, a platform for substantive dialogue amongst legislators and renewable energy experts, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) launched IRENA Legislators Dialogue — a series of webinars aimed at strengthening the Agency’s engagement with the members of parliaments.

The webinar series offers members of parliaments the opportunity to share their experiences and perspectives regarding the deployment of renewable energy in their country. The dialogue also looked at the central role that renewables play in implementing sustainable development goals and achieving the climate targets of the Paris Agreement.

The first IRENA Legislators' Dialogue was structured under the theme ‘Renewables as an enabler of services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic’. The dialogue will focus on the increase of communities’ access to basic energy services through the introduction of regional and national policies, and the adoption of a social inclusion approach to strengthen living standards within the next decade.

The webinar will discuss the impact of COVID-19, with an aim to outline recovery options based on the scaling-up of energy transition technologies both in developing and industrialised countries. The webinar also provided parliamentarians with an overview of the role of renewables in reducing the impacts and consequences of the current pandemic, including impacts beyond the health sector.

Additionally, the role that parliamentarians can play in supporting the adoption of stimulus and recovery packages that accelerate the global energy transformation will be discussed.

The first webinar tookplace on 13 July 2020 from 16:00 to 17:30 Gulf Standard Time.

Contact us at legislators@irena.org for more information on IRENA’s engagement with parliamentarians.