ABU DHABI // Doubling the world's green power output by 2030 - the target set by the United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon - is possible but the window for action is closing, a renewable energy summit heard yesterday.
"It is achievable but will require concerted action by all," Dr Adnan Amin, secretary general of the International Renewable Energy Agency, told delegates to Irena's annual assembly.
At the current rate of progess, renewables will account for 21 per cent of global energy by 2030, leaving a gap of 9 per cent. Nine countries, including the UAE, have appointed national experts to look at ways to close that gap.
The Irena assembly coincides with Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. About 30,000 officials, clean-energy advocates and entrepreneurs are in the capital for the sixth World Future Energy Summit and the International Renewable Energy Conference.
Britain is seeking investment from the UAE and other Arabian Gulf nations to help to finance its £200 billion (Dh1,200bn) drive towards renewables, the UK energy minister Greg Barker said.
Abu Dhabi's green-energy company Masdar already owns a stake in the London Array, the world's largest offshore wind farm.
"The London Array is just the beginning," Mr Barker said. "I'm delighted at the way the investment relationship … is developing."
fneuhof@thenational.ae