UN declares International Day of Clean Energy

The United General Assembly has decided to mark January 26 as the International Day of Clean Energy. The decision was co-signed by the United Arab Emirates and Panama. The information was disclosed by Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).  The announcement is made ahead of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) to be held in Dubai’s Expo City from November 30 to December 12. The UAE as the host and president of the climate summit wants to focus on transition to clean energy goals set for 2030. IRENA director-general Francesco La Camera said the UNGA decision shows that “energy transition has taken centre stage to fight climate change…”

The UAE hopes to establish the goal of trebling renewable energy capacity by 2030 with members of COP28. The UAE Energy Strategy 2050 envisages an investment of Dhs200 billion ($54 billion) that clean energy demand is met to support sustained economic growth. Plans are afoot to transit to renewable energy in the UAE through the construction of Barakah nuclear plant, a two-gigawatt solar plant in Abu Dhabi’s Al Dhafra region and five-gigawatt solar plant at Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai. And in a policy statement, Abu Dhabi has announced that the greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 30 million tonnes by 2027 from 135 million tonnes in 2016. The world has to generate 1,000 gigawatts of renewable energy annually till 2030 to meet the Paris summit targets.

The UNGA’s decision might appear to be another symbolic gesture by designating a day for clean energy. But there is no other way of increasing the awareness among people across the world about the need for clear energy to avert climate disaster. Of course, there is the need on the part of governments, industry and businesses to take practical steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also increase the renewable energy component in the energy basket. This is the more challenging task. The top five economies are also the great contributors to the fossil fuel emission based oil and coal, led by the US and China, the two top economies. It will be said that if the poorer countries were to switch to green energy path they would need financial and technological help from the developed economies. This is a hard choice. Pressure groups like the European Union (EU) have been hectoring the poor countries to avoid the greenhouse gas emissions path and adopt clean energy methods, without keeping to the promise of offering financial aid to accomplish. It would also help if the EU were to restrict imports from countries where green energy consumption becomes the norm. The US under President Joe Biden has woken up to the clean energy challenge and it has a long way to go. China has been less forthcoming and it seems to stick to the view that it is the Western countries which should pay because they had caused the greatest pollution for more than a century.

Smaller emerging market economies like the UAE will be making a steady transition to the clean energy processes, and it could even help many other developing countries with adopting the right technologies. But the major work has to be done by the Western countries with their technological and financial clout. At the climate summits, Western countries must take over by adopting strategies of mitigating the pollution they have caused. Polluter pays is not an unfair demand. At the same time, the developing countries will have to find their own solutions to the climate crises and not wait for the Western countries to step in with help.

This would also mean that the developing countries should be tough bargainers while trading their natural resources, commodities with Europe and America. It would be fair for the developing countries to impose ecological conditions on trade agreements.