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Washington, DC, January 29, 2015 – GEF CEO Naoko Ishii yesterday spoke at the National Council for Science and Environment's (NSCE) 15th National Conference, which this year focused on energy and climate.
Coming back from last weeks' World Economic Forum in Davos, Naoko Ishii noted that the link between energy, climate change, and economic growth and opportunities was a central theme in the discussions among the global leaders gathered in Davos. "In Davos we talked for example about how to close the energy gap in Africa, where more than 600 million people today are without modern energy. Clean energy will play a central role in closing this gap," Ishii said "especially in rural areas where off-grid solutions are the only realistic way forward. At the same time it is very encouraging that several African countries, for example South Africa, Kenya or Morocco, are rapidly expanding their on-grid renewable energy capacity through large-scale investments in wind, geothermal and solar".
But the transformation to low carbon development will not come automatically, Naoko Ishii emphasized. "In many countries, much needs to be done to strengthen policy and regulatory frameworks to create an environment that is conducive to private investments, that promotes innovation, and continuous improvements in energy efficiency. Public institutions, like the GEF, can play a critical role in helping mobilize low-carbon investments, including by providing risk-willing capital to for example kick-start the deployment of new technologies or to help aggregate multiple small projects into investment-size packages. The key is that the limited public finance focuses on catalyzing widespread private sector action".
Asked about what to expect in 2015, Naoko Ishii pointed to the ongoing climate negotiations and said that "2015 is a year of decisions which will affect not only the current generation, but in particular future generations". Noting the encouraging leadership shown by China, US and India—the worlds three largest green house gas emitters--and the robust initial capitalization of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Naoko Ishii said that "perhaps the most critical building block for the 2015 climate change agreement will be the announcement by all countries of their contributions to reduce global green-house gas emissions", and further noted that the GEF already is providing support to a number of countries for their preparations of the so called "Intended Nationally Determined Contributions" that lays out what countries intend to do to reduce emissions through ambitious mitigation action, coupled with adaptation and resilience-building.
Naoko Ishii's interview with the Science and Environmental Channel
In the picture in the front page LR: Theodore Roosevelt IV, Managing Director in Investment Banking at Barclays, currently, he serves as Chairman of the firm's Clean Tech Initiative; Adele Morris, fellow and policy director for Climate and Energy Economics at the Brookings Institution; Naoko Ishii, GEF CEO and Chairperson.