Bilateral agreement most welcome news of last year

Adnan Amin told the meeting the last year was an eventful and important one for climate change. [Photo by Du Juan/chinadaily.com.cn]

The most welcome news of 2014 was the bilateral agreement on climate change between the United States and China, two countries accounting for 40 percent of global emissions, said Adnan Amin, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency on Sunday.

"Climate change has a profound impact on the political, economic and social issues that shape our global development and the last year was an eventful and important year for climate change," he said during a two-day IRENA meeting in Abu Dhabi.

The US intends to achieve an emissions reduction target of 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 while China will achieve the peaking of carbon emissions around 2030 and make efforts to peak early, according to the November agreement.

China intends to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20 percent during the same period.

"It takes into account their common but differentiated responsibilities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, with clean energy cited as a key vehicle to achieving this," said Amin.

According to Irena's roadmap for renewable energy, REmap 2030, doubling the share of renewables could help mitigate climate change by reducing global emissions of CO2 by an equivalent of nearly 9 gigatons, equivalent to around 21 percent savings, in 2030.

"In addition, renewables will contribute to creating millions of jobs worldwide, as well as improving air quality and energy security," said Amin.

Considering 2015 as the most important year for climate change since 1992, he said the focus of IRENA is not to become a part of the negotiating process but to provide knowledge and tools to countries wishing to accelerate the deployment of renewables as part of their national climate strategies.

Amin was reappointed director-general of IRENA to a second four-year term, which was agreed by acclamation by the 124 member countries at the fifth Assembly.