Maldives: Ministerial conference on renewables in the Small Islands

Malé, October 9, 2017 - It opens today in Male the Ministerial Conference on IRIE, (Initiative for Renewable Island Energy), the Initiative launched by AOSIS, (the Alliance of Small Island States), and IRENA, (the International Renewable Energy Agency), at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Marrakesh, in December 2016, aimed to facilitate the transition of the Small Developing Islands towards an energy system based on renewable sources.

In the framework of the bilateral collaboration with the Maldives, the Ministry of the Environment contributed to the realization of the Conference.

Present at the event: Ministers of island states adhering to AOSIS, development cooperation actors, financial institutions and private sector representatives active in the renewable energy sector.

The Conference will allow to focus on the concrete steps that Small Island Developing States have taken and must take to transform their Nationally Determined Contributions, (NDCs) - i.e. the mitigation and adaptation objectives that they have set within the framework of the Paris Agreement - in actual plans, programs, projects, as well as in reforms of the regulatory and institutional system. The Conference will also be an opportunity to promote new partnerships and catalyze the effort of all development actors, including the private sector, towards the goal of a clean and efficient energy system.

At the opening, the General Director Francesco La Camera recalled that Italy, at the end of 2015, had exceeded the target for the development of renewable energies set for 2020. This is just one of the results that indicate the strong commitment of our country on the road that leads to the reduction of emissions and the increase of clean energies. In the last 10 years this effort has expanded internationally through environmental cooperation initiatives which, in 2017, exceeded a value of 27 million dollars. The cooperation with developing islands, which contribute the least to global warming but suffer the greatest impact, is an essential part of this commitment. From here, the numerous activities and projects that the MATTM promotes in the Pacific Islands, in the Caribbean, in Cuba, in the Maldives and in the Comoros.

The Vice President of the Maldives, Abdulla Jihad, has expressed his gratitude to Italy for the support given to the Maldives through the Cooperation Program launched in 2015.

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AOSIS Ministerial Meeting on Initiative for Renewable Island Energy (IRIE)