Teresa Ribera, Vice-President of the Government of Spain, and Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), announced they would host an international climate and energy summit in Madrid on 2 October 2023 focused on the urgency of accelerating the global clean energy transition.
This important event will occur during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It will bring together energy and climate ministers, industry, finance and civil society leaders from around the world just weeks before the COP28 Climate Change Conference – to build a grand coalition to accelerate momentum towards reaching the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C.
According to the IEA, the world’s emissions must peak before 2025 and fall rapidly until they hit net zero by 2050 or earlier. It is time to work together to create enabling ecosystems to decarbonise our economies and societies. As the largest source of the emissions that cause global warming, the energy sector must take a more significant leadership role and step forward with robust policies and tangible actions to drive the transition to clean energy that the world needs. This event allows global decision-makers to signal the world about our shared future, reiterate that the 1.5 °C goal is alive and achievable, and take a firm line and strong message to the Global Stocktake process culminating at COP28 in November.
“It is time for the world’s energy and climate leaders to take a joint stand,” Dr Birol said. “Now is the moment to come together in a grand coalition of all stakeholders – encompassing governments, the energy industry, investors and civil society – that are genuinely committed to reducing emissions while safeguarding energy security. We need to send a strong message ahead of COP28 that the 1.5 °C goal is still alive.”
Vice-President Ribera endorsed this view, adding that “it is time to bring together the political will and leadership capable of accelerating climate action and to redouble our efforts to meet the goal of containing the global temperature rise to below 1.5 °C. It is time to analyse the levers and conditions for a safer and healthier fossil fuel free world; the urgent deployment of renewables and new energy carriers such as renewable hydrogen are crucial in this exercise.”
