Co-hosted by IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol and COP26 President Alok Sharma, the Net Zero Summit is a critical milestone on the road to COP26 in Glasgow in November. The Summit will include a dynamic dialogue between the world’s major economies, which are also large emitters, with the participation of US Presidential Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Chinese Special Envoy on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua, European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Indian Minister of Power, New and Renewable Energy Raj Kumar Singh.
High-profile energy and climate leaders attending the Summit will represent countries that together account for the vast majority of global energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. “Over 120 governments have announced their intentions to bring emissions to zero by the middle of this century. A tremendous amount now needs to be done to turn ambitions into reality: long-term targets by themselves will not suffice, as the recent rebound in global CO2 emissions shows,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA Executive Director.
“To keep our climate goals within reach the next ten years must be a decade of delivery, not deliberation. This is why the UK, as host of COP26, is pushing for much stronger international collaboration on climate change as one of its top priorities,” said Alok Sharma, the COP26 President.
Roadmap for the energy sector
To help countries turn their ambitions into coherent real-world action, the IEA will publish on 18 May the world’s first comprehensive roadmap for the global energy sector to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Commissioned by the UK government’s COP26 Presidency, this unprecedented piece of IEA analysis will be a vital foundation for building a global consensus on reaching net-zero emissions, informing discussions at COP26 in November and beyond.
Watch the summit live on 31 March, 12.00-15.00 CEST from the IEA website.
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