CPLP Energy and Climate Seminars promote debate on climate finance for the energy transition
The Government of São Tomé and Príncipe, which holds the Presidency-in-Office of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), together with the Energy Thematic Commission of the CPLP Consultative Observers, coordinated by ALER and the Association of Energy Regulators of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (RELOP), and with the institutional support of the CPLP, will promote an Energy and Climate Seminar Series to discuss the contribution of climate finance mechanisms to accelerate the energy transition in the CPLP Member States.
This series of four seminars aims to boost cooperation and dialogue between public and private entities in the CPLP countries; highlight national strategies for the energy transition; identify opportunities for climate finance; and discuss the regulatory role for implementing energy transition projects.
As part of the World Environment Day celebrations, the São Tomé Presidency and the Energy Thematic Committee of the CPLP Consultative Observers highlighted the great challenge of combating climate change and emphasizing that this can only be overcome by working together across sectors and also at regional level. These seminars will emphasize cooperation between the environment, energy and finance sectors, and will allow CPLP member states to share their experiences.
The CPLP Energy and Climate Seminar Series aims to bring together members of the government, leaders of energy companies, financiers and other interested parties in a space for debate. On the sidelines of the seminars, there will be consultation meetings, including the CPLP Energy Focal Points Meeting, which the relevant São Toméan authorities will convene.
The first seminar will take place on 2nd July 2024, at the Auditorium of CPLP headquarters in Lisbon (Portugal) and will focus on private investment. National strategies for the energy transition will be shared and the importance of the regulatory framework for attracting investment will be highlighted. In addition, concrete cases of private sector climate investment in the various Portuguese-speaking countries will be presented, underlining the role of national banks and the business sector in projects that promote the energy transition.
The second seminar, scheduled for 10th October, will take place in Praia (Cape Verde), on the sidelines of a high-level event on Climate Finance, organized by the Cape Verdean government, and will focus mainly on strategies for mobilizing climate funds for the energy transition. This will be followed by a third seminar, on 22nd November, as part of the 1st International Seminar on Carbon Credit Regulation, in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), which will present advances in the regulation of national carbon markets.
Finally, the fourth and last seminar in this series, to be held in March 2025 in São Tomé and Príncipe, will launch the “Lusophone Energy Transition Roadmap for COP30”, which will compile the energy transition and climate finance strategies of each CPLP country; identify points of cooperation between them; and help define a strategy for the articulated participation of CPLP Member States in COP30.
The CPLP Energy and Climate Seminar Series also has the institutional support of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Natural Resources of São Tomé and Príncipe, the Ministry of Energy and Water of Angola, the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Brazil, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy of Cape Verde, the Ministry of Energy of Guinea-Bissau, the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy of Mozambique and the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Portugal.