International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and American General Electric Company (GE) have signed a framework agreement to collaborate on a plan which will support both climate change and energy security.
The agreement, signed at the COP27 in Egypt, will see IRENA and GE collaborate across several specific pillars including decarbonisation , through leadership, and adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy .
Specifically, the parties will explore how to jointly support decarbonisation efforts in critical markets and sectors, including onshore and offshore wind , bioenergy with carbon capture, utilisation and storage ( CCUS ), hydro , green hydrogen , energy storage , electrification , and the latest grid modernisation technologies.
The plan is to collaborate on identifying thought leadership, events, and knowledge exchange opportunities with strategic stakeholders and partners to promote the continued growth of the renewables sector.
The partners will also consider technical cooperation, exploring collaboration on technical solutions and capacity-building that support regional and country-level stakeholders.
At the same time, the agreement is said to demonstrate GE and IRENA’s commitment to achieving climate change goals while focusing on the three pillars of the energy trilemma –reliability, sustainability, and affordability .
Francesco La Camera , Director-General of IRENA, commented: “Any near-term shortfall in action will further reduce the chance of keeping 1.5°C within reach. We are acutely aware that scaling up renewable energy investments and decarbonisation technologies is more important today than ever.
“Our collaboration with GE underlines how partnerships within the industry can – and must – serve our mission of supporting countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future. Together with forward-looking multinationals such as GE, we hope to accelerate progress and fuel global ambitions to achieve net zero.”
Roger Martella , Chief Sustainability Officer, GE, added: “GE knows that partnership is critical to solving climate change and energy security . We are thus honoured to partner with IRENA as a key stakeholder to achieve the shared goal of a just and ambitious energy transition .
“As a company whose equipment helps generate one-third of the world’s electricity, GE is rising to the challenge of innovating technology to decarbonise the energy sector while making energy more reliable, affordable, and sustainable for the 750 million people who lack access.”