Yesterday morning The Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization (OLACDE) participated in the Side Event organized by the RELAC initiative “Renewing Energy Transition Ambitions in Latin America and the Caribbean,” which was held in the framework of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in Glasgow-Scotland.
The event was attended by a number of energy ministers from the region, including Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, among others.
This meeting had an important twist since the accession of three new countries to the RELAC initiative was formalized: Panama, Nicaragua and El Salvador. In view of this event, OLACDE’s executive secretary, Alfonso Blanco, highlighted the role and growth of the initiative.
“OLACDE joined RELAC early on because we are convinced that this platform will become a powerful and representative initiative that will help our region consolidate its leadership in clean energy at a global level,” he said.
Currently, renewable energies in the region represent almost 59% of the region’s electricity generation.
“We want to be more ambitious to achieve 70% of total renewable generation by 2030, RELAC’s founding objective,” said OLACDE’s executive secretary.
He also stressed that “renewable energies in our region are more than a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Renewables are a driver of economic development and job creation. They help us consolidate innovation, stimulate technology transfer, increase financing for new projects, strengthen capacities and energy integration.
OLACDE’s executive secretary, Alfonso Blanco, thanked the IDB and the energy ministries for their support. “None of this is possible without a strong commitment from countries and institutions to promote and stimulate international cooperation. OLACDE will always be at the disposal of its member countries to strengthen cooperation and assist them in the development of a clean, reliable and transparent energy system.”
“Many of our countries have made commitments to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Others have defined decarbonization commitments through long-term low-carbon energy strategies,” he said.
In this sense, he pointed out that “we must install more than 230 GW of renewables by 2030, improve energy efficiency policies for energy resources, advance in clean cooking, in energy storage systems, in the deepening of hydrogen as a useful energy vector for the decarbonization of end-use sectors that are difficult to decarbonize and continue deepening regional and sub-regional energy integration that will allow us to place renewable surpluses in different markets, making them more efficient.“
Benigno López, Vice President of Sectors and Knowledge of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), said that “cooperation between OLACDE and the IDB will be key for countries to join RELAC and thus face the challenges of climate change.“
Juan Pablo Bonilla, Manager of the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Sector of the Inter-American Development Bank, supported the challenges posed. “For us, OLACDE is a strategic partner and plays a fundamental role in the integration of countries to RELAC, an initiative that will continue to grow and presents important challenges.”
