The UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) has officially launched the UK-led Global Clean Power Alliance, which aims to meet COP28 commitments to triple renewable energy.
Brazil, Australia, Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Morocco, Norway, Tanzania, the African Union are the first countries to sign up to its first mission.
The United States and the European Union will also partner with the UK on the initiative.
At the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Prime Minister and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva confirmed the new partnership, saying that it will speed up the global drive for clean power by uniting developed and developing countries across the north and south.
The alliance of countries will work together and share expertise with the goal of meeting the COP28 commitments on renewable energy and to double energy efficiency.
The Global Clean Power Alliance will have “Missions” to address the most critical energy transition challenges.
The first of these is the Finance Mission, which will be co-chaired by Brazil, to harness the political leadership needed to unlock private finance on a huge scale, so that no developing country is left behind.
It commits to supporting countries to build investment platforms and providing the assistance needed to get clean finance flowing.
Starmer said: “The UK is already leading the way in the clean power transition – we’ve phased out coal power, lifted the ban on onshore wind and launched GBEnergy – but we will not stop there.
“We want our clean energy ambitions to go global, so it is fantastic news that multiple other countries are now on board with the UK-led Global Clean Power Alliance.
“I will restore the UK’s role as a climate leader on the world stage – and this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make sure we face up to the climate crisis head-on, while delivering more jobs, growth and prosperity for people across the entire planet.”
Rebecca Newsom, Senior Political Advisor at Greenpeace UK, said:
“The goals of tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency by 2030 will be reached faster through strong international collaboration, which this alliance could help with. It should prioritise knowledge-sharing, collective purchasing and enhancing routes to market in emerging economies for renewables, as well encouraging the interconnection of national and regional electricity grids.
“To avoid making the debt crisis in many developing countries even worse, financial support from developed countries should be provided in the form of highly concessional grants and loans. Billions of dollars in public funding could be unlocked by taxing the most polluting industries, such as the fossil fuel sector, to make polluters pay. This would help propel the ‘transition away from fossil fuels’ agreed at COP28 that must remain front and centre of efforts to tackle climate change.”