Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has emphasized the urgent need to triple renewable energy production and double energy efficiency by 2030 to remain on track with the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Speaking at the fifth edition of Trade and Environment Week, Okonjo-Iweala highlighted the critical role of trade policies in promoting environmental sustainability and facilitating a clean energy transition. She emphasized the potential of trade policies to lower costs, promote renewable energy adoption, and address fossil fuel subsidies.
The WTO DG also advocated for aligning standards and certification processes to ensure a stable policy framework for renewable energy deployment.
Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, echoed the urgency of addressing climate change and the severe consequences of rising temperatures. She stressed the importance of renewable energy in countering climate change and called for responsible and circular approaches to using critical minerals.
Celeste Saulo, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, emphasized the importance of climate information in guiding green energy transition policies. She highlighted the need for international cooperation to share climate data, facilitate technology transfer, and build climate-resilient infrastructure.
Francesco La Camera, the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency, urged for immediate reforms to align trade policies with the clean energy transition. He warned that the current pace of change is insufficient to meet global climate targets and called for lowering tariffs on renewable energy technologies and establishing international standards for environmental goods and services.
The Chile Ambassador, Sofía Boza, underscored the role of trade in facilitating access to essential technologies for clean energy and asserted that the energy transition offers a significant opportunity to diversify the productive base and create added value in exports.
