COP27 recap and beyond

Today marks the final day of COP27 - UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh. Over the past two weeks, world leaders were among the thousands of delegates that convened on the Egyptian coastal city to discuss pressing climate matters. This year’s focus: climate adaptation and “loss and damage” payments to the most climate-vulnerable developing nations, to which, the EU made a surprise last-minute proposal to send financial aid in the dying hours of the conference. Besides those tense discussions, Eurelectric was also well represented at the conference over its two weeks with two members of the Secretariat and seven representatives from our Structure of Expertise present. Here are the highlights from their visit.

Power Plant: Eurelectric and The Nature Conservancy join forces

On Tuesday, 15 November, Eurelectric and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalise and continue our joint efforts to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy and meet 2030 targets.

The official signature of the MoU took place during a side event: “Accelerating Renewable Energy Internationally” in the presence of EU representatives and International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) . Jutta Paulus and Mohammed Chahim (MEPs), Jesus Alquezar Sabadie (DG Environment), Nicholas Wagner (IRENA) and Darci Vetter (TNC) joined Eurelectric’s Generation and Environment Committee Vice-chair, Joana Freitas , for a discussion on how to export the Green Deal internationally and ensure win-wins for climate, biodiversity, and energy security.

“[We] need to fight the narrative that RES goes against nature. That is not true. Fossil fuels are going against nature and limit the ecosystem’s ability to provide services… I am opposed to the belief that there must be trade offs between climate, environment and energy security. Renewable energy can help nature.” ~ Jutta Paulus, MEP

The signing comes after collaboration this year on one of our latest projects “Power Plant”, a project aimed at informing EU policymakers and supporting their endeavours to establish EU-wide guiding principles for renewables deployment. Further areas for future cooperation include, among others, defining broader cross-sector collaboration potentials, and information sharing on spatial planning and low-impact areas suitable for rapid renewable energy deployments.

How can China’s power industry address climate change

Also on Tuesday, our Electrification and Sustainability Committee Chair, Daniele Agostini , joined a panel discussion on the actions and prospects of China’s power industry to address climate change. In contribution, Mr Agostini presented our findings from this year’s #PowerBarometer22. A key point of mention was the global supply chain that has a significant impact on power systems globally. He pointed out to Chinese delegates that the success of the energy transition, and thus our ability to attain our climate objectives, relies on the support of this global supply chain.

Climate adaptation means #ElectricityResilience

With one of the key themes of this year’s COP being climate adaptation, it is also worth highlighting on this final day that the discussion does not end in Egypt. Every year breaks new temperature records and demonstrates more extreme and catastrophic weather events. Europe and the world need to brace themselves for more of such. Therefore, strengthening #ElectricityResilience via climate adaptation has become a defining issue of our time.

“That dystopia that came to our doorstep will come to everyone...” ~ Sherry Rehman, Pakistan Climate Change Minister

At Eurelectric, we have therefore partnered with the expert US organisation EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) to explore how to bridge climate mitigation and adaptation through holistic proactive solutions. In a coming report slated for launch on 7 December, we will discuss key questions such as:

• How will resilience play an increasing role in the performance of the power sector?
• What can be done to build and maintain secure infrastructure to withstand extreme weather events?
• How can the EU respond to this challenge with regulatory measures?

These questions, and more importantly their answers, should become the guiding principles for grid investments in the future to ensure resilience to climate change. Be sure to join us to continue the discussion.