ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – The 16th session of the Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) gets underway here on Saturday, overshadowed by the decision of the United States to withdraw from the United Nations green energy agency and 65 other international organisations, many of them UN-affiliated bodies.
Several Caribbean delegates, including energy ministers, are expected to attend the assembly, the first session of which is dubbed, “Pathways for a Renewable Future across Latin America and Caribbean subregions: Regional Energy Transition Outlook for South America.
Reacting to the US announcement, IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera said he regretted the announced intention of the United States, saying, “As an IRENA member and key global stakeholder, the United States has long played an important role in advancing renewable energy through international cooperation.”
La Camera said renewables are not only a climate solution.
“Renewable energy is smart economics and will be the decisive factor in the competitiveness of economies. Renewables are a powerful driver of business opportunities, job creation, technological leadership, and industrial innovation.”
La Camera said that from lowering power costs to offering strategic investment, the energy transition presents a historic opportunity for countries to achieve substantial economic returns.
“First and foremost, renewables are essential in today’s uncertain environment to ensure energy security and strengthen geopolitical positions.”
The IRENA head said international collaboration is more critical than ever, and IRENA remains committed to supporting countries and businesses in their efforts to accelerate the global energy transition and deliver the socioeconomic, environmental, and security benefits of renewable energy to power their development.
“We recognise the valuable contributions the United States has made to the work of IRENA and its 171 members over the years and hope to see renewed engagement in the future. The door for continued cooperation remains open,” La Camera said.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that the United States was withdrawing from “international organisations, conventions, and treaties that are contrary to the interests of the United States,” and that Washington would also withdraw funding from 60 such bodies.
The US president had directed Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in consultation with the United States representative to the United Nations, to conduct a review of all international intergovernmental organizations of which the United States is a member and provides any funding or other support, and all conventions and treaties to which the United States is a party, to determine which organizations, conventions, and treaties are contrary to the interests of the United States.
Trump said Rubio had reported his findings.
“I have considered the Secretary of State’s report and, after deliberating with my Cabinet, have determined that it is contrary to the interests of the United States to remain a member of, participate in, or otherwise provide support to the organizations …”
“For United Nations entities, withdrawal means ceasing participation in or funding to those entities to the extent permitted by law.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Rubio described as “wasteful, ineffective, or harmful” the entities from which the United States has withdrawn.
“The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity,” Rubio said.
Among the entities that the US would withdraw from are several dealing with green energy and the environment, including the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact; the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals, and Sustainable Development; the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; the International Energy Forum; the International Union for Conservation of Nature Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century; UN Energy; UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; UN Oceans and UN Water.
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