Back to Business: G20 Energy Minsters Affirm Drive towards Renewables, Innovation, Cooperation

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... This year, as it happens, Argentina holds the G20 Presidency and the outgoing Germans and incoming Japanese worked with Argentine energy minister Juan Jose Aranguren to broker an ambitious re-affirmation of renewable energy goals, if expressed with cautious timelines and with deep understanding of the different energy mixes and starting points for G20 nations. The G20 meet-up was the first major international gathering since the disastrous G7 meeting in Canada, and was remarkably free of histrionics.

The G20 energy ministers affirmed here that “we live in challenging energy times” with Aranguren stating that “he need for persistent actions to address global challenges, including climate change and energy security. We recognize that energy transitions are essential for the development of long-term strategies that combine economic growth and the reduction of greenhouse gases.”

The view of the G20

The progress achieved with regard to the development and deployment of renewable energy has been remarkable, benefitting from innovation and in part from significant cost reductions (notably for solar and wind, which are now cost competitive in many cases), but much more progress will be needed, not only in G20 member countries, but also worldwide.

We encourage G20 members that opt to enhance their renewable energy strategies considering national circumstances, needs and priorities to accelerate their implementation, where appropriate.

We encourage increased investment and financing in renewable energy production, including through barrier reduction and risk mitigation initiatives, which is particularly important for developing countries.

Renewable energy progress should be accelerated beyond the power sector. We acknowledge that some renewable energy sources, such as bioenergy (including biofuels), solar and geothermal energy, can play an important role in some G20 countries in reducing emissions in the transportation, heating and cooling, and industrial sectors worldwide, depending on national circumstances and conditions.

We will foster innovation as one of the key drivers of the energy transitions processes. We will encourage and facilitate research, development, demonstration and deployment (RDD&D) of innovative, cleaner and efficient energy technologies, recognizing the need for these to be competitive and commercially viable. We will encourage greater cooperation in developing, sharing and applying best available technologies, and will also encourage multilateral development banks and finance institutions to facilitate investment, and technology transfer. We will support flexible energy systems and distributed generating capacities.

We acknowledge energy security as one of the guiding principles for the transformation of our systems, and will continue to promote policy options that facilitate open, flexible, transparent, competitive and reliable markets for energy commodities and technologies. We stress the importance of diversification of energy sources, suppliers and routes, and the need to facilitate the proper conditions for continued and increasing investments to ensure sustainable, affordable, reliable, resilient and cleaner energy systems. Investment in infrastructure is essential, but a persistent financial gap remains. We encourage increased contributions from both public and private financial resources.

At the end of the G20 Meeting of Energy Ministers, representatives of the troika (Germany, Argentina and Japan) announced that consensus had been reached and a communiqué agreed upon. The G20 affirmed the group’s commitment to energy transitions that move towards cleaner, more flexible and transparent systems. READ MORE