This came during his speech at the World Renewable Energy Summit, which is being held on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and is the first high-level summit to enhance efforts to triple global renewable energy production capacity by 2030.
Al Jaber explained that the world needs to increase current investment in renewable energy by more than three times over the next six years to reach its production capacity of 11,000 gigawatts to ensure the possibility of achieving the 1.5°C goal, support sustainable development, and leave no one behind.
He pointed out that this increase is one of the basic provisions of the historic “UAE Agreement”, which represents the frame of reference for global climate ambition and sustainable development, calling on the world to implement this agreement. He explained that the global production capacity of renewable energy has increased eight-fold in the past twenty years, in conjunction with a decrease in its costs by more than 80 percent, as the cost of solar energy has become less than any other source of energy, noting that this increase is “historic” but is not happening at the required speed.
Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, called for urgent action to increase investment in three key areas, including infrastructure, technology, especially artificial intelligence, and supporting growth and development plans in countries of the Global South.
He pointed out the great importance of private sector investments in these areas and explained that stimulating these investments requires reassuring investors that their projects will be connected to an electricity grid capable of distributing their production, which will be established according to a practical and applicable timetable, noting that the infrastructure of electricity grids in industrialized countries is often more than 60 years old, while there are no grids at all in many countries of the Global South.
He called on all countries to include specific targets for renewable energy and infrastructure in the next version of their nationally determined contributions, in conjunction with implementing policies to stimulate private sector investments, and facilitate and accelerate permitting procedures without obstacles.
He pointed out the importance of the role of technology, especially artificial intelligence, in addressing the main challenges facing renewable energy, such as forecasting demand, ensuring supply stability, and long-term storage, through its ability to enhance network efficiency, anticipate usage, support predictive maintenance, and facilitate integration between energy sources that provide baseload and renewable energy sources, which increases the efficiency of reducing emissions and enhances energy security.
He also called for enhancing investment in the use of artificial intelligence applications in the energy sector to expand the scope of its benefits more quickly, and pointed out that the UAE will host a special forum that includes the most prominent experts and global leaders in the technology and energy sectors next November in Abu Dhabi, given the close connection between these two sectors.
He added that the world is currently witnessing an unprecedented opportunity to achieve sustainable economic growth through green and smart technologies, pointing to the need to enhance support for countries in the South that do not receive their fair share of global investment, as more than 120 developing countries receive less than 15 percent of total renewable energy investments.
He stressed the need to review old climate finance models and support new and better models, and called on international financing institutions to provide financing in an accessible and affordable manner, and to stimulate private financing through innovative joint models.
He highlighted the Green Investment Initiative for Africa launched by the UAE last year, which aims to develop 25 renewable energy production and storage projects in 14 African countries, as a successful model for stimulating investment in this field, as well as the Alterra Climate Investment Fund, which was launched during COP28, and has already invested $6.5 billion in partnership with investors in projects with a total capacity of 40 gigawatts.
He stressed the need to intensify efforts to address the challenges of lagging behind in developing energy sources in the countries of the Global South, and called on all parties to explore all possible solutions in cooperation with partners who embrace the same visions, ideas and orientations, noting that traditional practices are not enough, which requires the application of a new model that raises the partnership between the public and private sectors to a new level, by adhering to the spirit of solidarity, and adopting a positive mindset that views spending on renewable energy sources as an investment that achieves great returns.
It is worth noting that the World Renewable Energy Summit, which opened yesterday and will conclude tomorrow, hosts a number of prominent leaders from the industrial and governmental sectors, international governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and charitable institutions, to discuss progress, opportunities, and challenges regarding the goal of tripling global renewable energy production capacity by 2030.
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