Expansion of renewable energies: international meeting of energy ministers and heads of government

ABU DHABI: Representatives of over 140 countries, including more than 80 energy ministers and 6 heads of government, are meeting in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) for the Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), followed by the International Renewable Energy Conference ADIREC and the World Future Energy Summit (up to Thursday 17 January).

This is the most important series of political events to address the global expansion of renewables on this year's international agenda. Peter Altmaier, Federal Environment minister and Gudrun Kopp, Parliamentary State secretary at the Federal ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development, are representing the German government.

“From oil to solar energy, from coal to wind energy - more and more countries are switching to renewable energies. In Germany we are global pioneers with our Energiewende - the transformation of the energy system - but we are by no means alone. In recent months there has been an impressive increase internationally in the political commitment to the expansion of renewable energies. Many countries have launched a transformation of their energy systems. This is also thanks to the work of IRENA, which is becoming an increasingly important hub internationally, as we had hoped when we set it up”, commented Federal Environment minister, Peter Altmaier.

“The development of IRENA illustrates how strong demand for renewables has become in many countries and the important role renewables are already playing internationally. Sustainable energy is a key issue for the future. It is also a central element of German development cooperation, which is increasingly focusing on cross-sectoral concepts for sustainable energy such as the nexus approach of combining energy, water and food security. This approach will be addressed in detail for the first time for the energy sector as part of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week,” stated Gudrun Kopp, Parliamentary state secretary at the Federal Development ministry.

With its development co-operation, Germany is one of the largest bilateral donors in the field of sustainable energy, pledging 1.8 billion euros in 2011. It will continue to work with its partners worldwide on the global expansion of renewables.

The third IRENA Assembly (13 and 14 January 2013) will plot the strategic course for the Agency's future work and adopt a detailed work programme for 2013. The total budget for the current year amounts to almost $30 million. Over the next five years IRENA will focus on issues such as how to double the share of renewables by 2030.

At the Abu Dhabi International Renewable Energy Conference ADIREC (15 to 17 January 2013), key policymakers and representatives of industry, research and NGOs will meet to discuss ways forward to the energy supply of the future. The Federal Environment Ministry and Federal Development Ministry are initiators of this series of conferences - ADIREC is the fourth follow-up conference to Renewables 2004 in Bonn.