IEA’s Birol hopes to address issue of renewable financing at upcoming COP29 in Baku

BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 16. I hope the issue
of financing clean energy sources in emerging and developing
countries will be raised during the COP29 to be held in Azerbaijan,
Baku, Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy
Agency (IEA) said during a panel discussion within the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Trend reports.

“Many things have been discussed at COP28 in Dubai, including
the doubling of renewable energy capacities and tripling
investments. However, how we are going to finance clean energy
investments – this is the question left to be discussed in Baku
within COP29. The clean energy sector saw an increase in
investments from $1 trillion to $1.8 trillion over the last 5
years. The problem is that most of these investments were made by
China. We hope that COP29 addresses this issue,” he said.

According to Birol, necessary standards and mechanisms should be
applied by all governments around the globe to ensure the
effectiveness of these investments.

“We need to triple investments in energy efficiency, which, in
most cases, pay back in 2-3 years. It is a very lucrative business;
however, governments need to provide incentives, especially for low
and middle-income groups, to make the initial investment in buying
a heat pump or an electric car. There should be mechanisms in place
to ensure that companies, implementing energy efficiency measures,
operate in a competitive environment. For consumers, the motivation
should not just be about saving energy for the sake of it. We have
to help governments understand, primarily for their budget but also
for energy security and carbon footprint. About 60 governments were
brought together last year in Paris, where we discussed these
standards,” the IEA director added.

Meanwhile, the decision to host COP29 in Azerbaijan has been
officially announced in Dubai on December 11, 2023.

In addition to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Bulgaria put forth their
candidacies. However, on December 7, 2023, after direct
negotiations between the Administration of the President of the
Republic of Azerbaijan and the Office of the Prime Minister of
Armenia, Armenia decided to withdraw its candidacy in support of
Azerbaijan. Bulgaria followed suit and also withdrew its
candidacy.

Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Mukhtar
Babayev has been appointed COP29 president on January 4, 2024.