In order to assist climate change and energy security, GE Power and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) inked a framework agreement at the most recent climate talks, COP27 in Egypt.
Francesco La Camera, director-general of IRENA, and Roger Martella, chief sustainability officer of GE, signed the agreement.
Through this partnership, GE and IRENA have pledged to work together on a number of distinct pillars, such as decarbonization, thought leadership, adoption, and sustainable usage of all types of renewable energy.
A statement claims that COP27 offers the necessary framework and foundation for the agreement’s advancement.
Francesco said: “Any near-term shortfall in action will further reduce the chance of keeping 1.5°C within reach.
“We are acutely aware that scaling up renewable energy investments and decarbonization technologies is more important today than ever.”
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The director-general of IRENA claims that IRENA’s cooperation with GE highlights how industrial partnerships can – and must – serve our purpose of assisting nations in their transition to a sustainable energy future.
“Together with forward-looking multinationals such as GE, we hope to accelerate progress and fuel global ambitions to achieve net zero,” he said.
For Roger, GE knows that partnership is critical to solving climate change and energy security. “We are thus honoured to partner with IRENA as a key stakeholder to achieve the shared goal of a just and ambitious energy transition,” he said.
“As a company whose equipment helps generate one-third of the world’s electricity, GE is rising to the challenge of innovating technology to decarbonize the energy sector while making energy more reliable, affordable, and sustainable for the 750 million people who lack access.”
Geoffrey Pyatt, the US department of state’s bureau of energy resources assistant secretary, said: “The US strongly supports private sector-led industrial decarbonization efforts, and we look forward to working closely with GE and other cutting edge industry players to advance these initiatives.”
After the contract is signed, GE and IRENA will investigate ways to work together to support decarbonization initiatives in key markets and industries, such as onshore and offshore wind, bioenergy with CCUS, hydro, green hydrogen, energy storage, electrification, and the most recent grid modernization technologies.
In order to support the continuous expansion of the renewables industry, the organizations also want to work together on identifying thought leadership, events, and opportunities for information sharing with critical partners and stakeholders.
Mohammed Mijindadi, President of GE Nigeria, commented on the arrangement, saying, “This agreement is a positive move for Nigeria with its objective to diversify the nation’s energy mix.
“GE’s Renewable Energy business is providing technology and services that can help enhance the country’s renewable energy generating capacity, improve and optimize the grid infrastructure, as well as leverage its advanced digital service offerings for cutting edge transformation.”
According to the statement, the partners will also consider technical cooperation, exploring collaboration on technical solutions and capacity-building that support regional and country-level stakeholders.
“This agreement demonstrates GE and IRENA’s commitment to achieving climate change goals while focusing on the three pillars of the energy trilemma –reliability, sustainability, and affordability,” the statement said.
Story was adapted from Business Day.
