How climate talks can enable a low-carbon energy sector – plus aid economic growth and energy access

IEA Director of Sustainable Energy Policy and Technology Kamel Ben Naceur will present the IEA’s four key messages for the upcoming UN climate negotiations. Building on extensive IEA analysis leading up to the Paris talks, he will show how COP21 can shift the energy sector onto a low-carbon path while supporting economic growth and providing energy to more people.

The messages will be introduced during a webinar on 25 November that sets the stage for the many IEA actions and activities during the two weeks of negotiations on limiting global warming. The IEA is also assisting both member and non-member countries by providing data, modelling, and policy and technology analysis for COP21, which starts on 30 November.

The energy sector is critical to resolving the climate change challenge because it accounts for at least two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions. IEA input for COP21 already includes a detailed World Energy Outlook Special Report on Energy and Climate Change that listed four key pillars to a successful COP21, including five key policy measures that could achieve an early peak in global energy-related emissions. The IEA has also assessed the impact of countries’ climate pledges ahead of the talks, urging that they be the start of a “virtuous cycle” of increasing ambition that is reviewed in five-year cycles to test the scope for further action. This month, the 29 member countries issued a statement at the IEA Ministerial meeting that called for a successful COP21 as part of the essential transformation of the world’s energy system.