OUTGOING G20 (Group of Twenty) president, Brazil has invited the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to serve as secretariat of the newly-established Global Coalition on Energy Planning (GCEP).
This was announced Saturday at a side event, held under the theme “Global Coalition for Energy Planning – Shaping the Agenda for Action”, prior to the 15th IRENA Assembly in Abu Dhabi.
“There are many pledges and commitments internationally about energy transition, but we need means to implement them. I'm confident that GCEP, with IRENA's secretariat, can be one of the best tools to address it,” Oliveira said while announcing the invitation to IRENA’s director-general Francesco La Camera.
The G20 is a global forum for economic cooperation between the world's largest economies, representing over 85% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and two-thirds of the world's population.
The establishment of GCEP, at a time when developing countries need to increase clean energy investments six-fold to meet global climate goals, was first announced at the G20 Energy Transitions Ministerial Meeting in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, last October.
Though non-binding and voluntary, the initiative provides a platform for collaboration, knowledge exchange and capacity building while also focusing on promoting effective, inclusive as well as transparent energy planning as a tool to accelerate clean energy investments, particularly in developing countries to ensure a just and equitable transition for all.
“With its expertise in facilitating international collaboration on energy planning, IRENA is uniquely well-suited to host the Secretariat of the Global Coalition on Energy Planning and promote the exchange of knowledge and experiences on energy planning,” Camera said.
Meanwhile, throughout its G20 presidency, Brazil has championed energy planning as a strategic component of the global energy transition with Silveira consistently highlighting the benefits of robust and transparent energy plans during the 2024 G20 Energy Transition Working Group (ETWG) meetings.
In his invitation to IRENA, Silveira acknowledged the strong role that the agency played during the discussions surrounding the launch of the coalition.
IRENA’s expertise in energy planning is well-established through its successful capacity-building programme for energy planners as well as its hosting of the Global Long-Term Energy Scenarios Network, a global platform for knowledge exchange on the use of long-term energy scenarios for planning.