The Executive Director of International Energy Agency( IEA)met with leaders from government, industry, finance and civil society at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week where he highlighted the need for greater investments in the clean energy transition to address the major global challenges of energy security and climate change.
The world does not need to choose between the energy crisis and the climate crisis. We can solve both of them with the right investment,” Dr Birol said during a livestreamed dialogue on 23 May with leading government and industry figures including Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck and India’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri. Dr Birol urged decision makers “not to lock in our future by using the current situation as an excuse” to justify investments in large, long-term fossil fuel projects that are inconsistent with efforts to reduce global emissions to net zero.
He further underlined the importance of accelerating investments in the clean energy transition, especially in emerging and developing economies.
