Bloomberg Philanthropies, IRENA announce new COP28 partnership

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and Bloomberg Philanthropies and have announced a partnership for the upcoming Conference of Parties 28 (COP28) which is scheduled to be held in Dubai, UAE. The tie-up is to “turbocharge clean energy deployment and capital mobilisation in emerging markets and developing economies”, as per a statement by IRENA.

The partnership was officially announced in the presence of Dr Sultan Al Jaber, President-Designate of COP28, Francesco La Camera, director-general of IRENA, and Michael R Bloomberg, UN special envoy on climate ambition and solutions and founder, Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The announcement said the partnership will allow Bloomberg Philanthropies to support IRENA to advance efforts to drive the adoption of renewable energy and reduce political, technical, and financial barriers to the energy transition.

“Increasing the production of renewable energy is an urgent necessity, and doing it requires strong partnerships across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors,” said Michael R Bloomberg. He added, “By working closely with the International Renewable Energy Agency, we’ll help countries in the Global South develop the capacity they need to build clean energy projects more quickly and efficiently. We look forward to working with IRENA, and all of our partners, to accelerate the clean energy transition.”

Accelerating renewable energy in emerging markets is critical to fighting climate change. Heading into @COP28_UAE, @BloombergDotOrg & @IRENA will work with Global South countries to reduce political, technical & financial barriers to the energy transition. https://t.co/kg0ptMQ4j5 pic.twitter.com/vGpIxvZTFo

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) May 22, 2023

COP28 in focus

COP28 is scheduled to be held at Expo City, Dubai from November 30 to December 12, 2023. The new partnership will work towards building capacities in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, strengthening project finance and bolstering the Energy Transition Accelerator Financing (ETAF) Platform as well as facilitating private capital mobilisation, as per Bloomberg Philanthropies.

According to IRENA, investment in renewables reached $0.5tn in 2022 however, this is less than one-third of the average annual investments needed until 2030 to hit net zero emission goals by 2050. To accelerate the pipeline of attractive renewable energy projects, Bloomberg and IRENA’s new partnership will reduce risk for potential developers and investors by providing vigorous technical and financial expertise to eligible projects that meet environmental, social, regulatory, and economic factors and implementation readiness.

Dr Sultan Al Jaber said, “The UAE welcomes this ambitious partnership between Bloomberg Philanthropies and IRENA to champion innovation and deliver clean energy, climate action, and economic prosperity for emerging markets in the Global South.” He added, “The world must move faster and further than ever before to seize the moment of the Global Stocktake and close the gap between ambition and reality. I look forward to working hand in hand with Bloomberg Philanthropies and IRENA to create a paradigm shift for tangible progress and help ensure that COP28 UAE delivers on its promise to deliver game-changing solutions for all.”

In March, IRENA released the World Energy Transitions Outlook Preview 2023, which identified an urgent need to course-correct the energy transition to keep the 1.5°C target within reach. While 2022 saw the largest-ever annual increase in renewable energy capacity, 75 per cent of the added capacity was centered in China, the European Union, and the US.

“While we continue to make progress on the energy transition, it is still way off track,” said Francesco La Camera, director-general of IRENA. “Annual additions of renewable power capacity must grow three times the current level by 2030 if we want to stay on track to limiting the impacts of climate change and stay below 1.5°C. As we drive towards solutions at COP28, today’s agreement between IRENA and Bloomberg Philanthropies will accelerate the development and delivery of renewable energy projects in the countries that need it most.”

Read:1.5°C global temperature threshold could be breached by 2027: WMO

Image credit: IRENA