Global renewables surge forward despite Trump’s climate reversals, says IRENA chief
Although Gulf countries are still heavily reliant on oil and gas, they are quickly moving toward a greener system, International Renewable Energy Agency head Francesco La Camera told Al-Monitor.
The new US administration of Donald Trump will not derail the rollout of renewable energy and the world’s 2030 target of tripling capacity, according to the director-general of the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency.
Established in 2009, IRENA is an intergovernmental organization supporting countries in the transition to renewable energy.
On Monday, his inauguration day, Trump did not hesitate to roll back several key domestic climate policies, including reversing some of former President Joe Biden’s limits on oil and gas exploration and withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement once again.
Asked whether he was concerned about Trump’s quick reversal of Biden’s climate policies on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera told Al-Monitor, “During my first two years at IRENA, we worked with the Trump administration and we managed," adding that the United States broke its own record for solar capacity installation last year.
