The OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is making a concerted effort to promote renewable energy investment and open up access to sustainable finance in emerging and developing nations, IRENA said in a press release.
The cooperation is formalized by a Memorandum of Understanding that was signed in Vienna by Dr. Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, Director-General of the OPEC Fund, and Francesco La Camera, Director-General of IRENA. Both parties are committed to mobilizing finance, unlocking investment, and assisting project development on the ground in pursuit of their shared goal of a fair, inclusive, and equitable energy transition that is in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement.
“The global energy transition must dramatically accelerate. To achieve net-zero and universal energy access, our World Energy Transitions Outlook shows that we must nearly treble the speed of deployment of renewables and massively redirect investment towards transition. Our cooperation with the OPEC Fund will help unlock much-needed capital in developing countries to bring economic growth, sustainable prosperity, and jobs to people through renewables projects on the ground,” said IRENA’s Director-General Francesco La Camera.
Practically speaking, both parties will work closely together to provide project developers with technical help and capacity building, producing a pipeline of bankable projects that are prepared for funding. They will also make an effort to draw in prospective investors. The partners will also consider working together on projects from the OPEC Fund, such as the upcoming Energy Access and Transition Trust Fund, the Climate Investment Platform (CIP), and the IRENA-managed Energy Transition Accelerator Financing (ETAF) Platform.
At the UN Climate Conferences COP27 in Egypt in November 2022 and COP28 in the UAE in November 2023, both parties will work closely together as well.