REN21’s Annual Steering Committee Meeting

REN21 members convened in Paris, France, 5-6 December, 2016 for the annual REN21 Steering Committee meeting.

The first day began with opening remarks by Mr. Eric Solheim, Executive Director, UN Environment, which were followed by a video message of Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the IEA and a presentation of the key findings of the IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2016 by Ms Laura Cozzi, Head of the Energy Demand Outlook Division, Directorate of Sustainability, Technology and Outlooks.  A Q&A session followed.

The afternoon session continued with a presentation and discussion Renewables Global Futures Report – Great Debates towards 100 % renewable energy, which provides an overview of opinions on a 100 % renewable energy future. The publication is scheduled for release in early 2017.

The second day started with a Tour de Table where each REN21 member gave an overview of current activities, illustrating the diversity of their activities and the multi-stakeholder nature of the organisation. Afterwards the Secretariat presented an overview of work carried out in 2016 and proposed a workplan for 2017 which was adopted.

The meeting closed with an intervention of Mr. Efrain Villaneuva Arcos Director-General for clean energy at SENER (Mexico’s Ministry of Energy). He presented Mexico’s proposal to host the next International Renewable Energy Conference (IREC), which was unanimously adopted by the REN21 Steering Committee. MEXIREC will take place in Mexico City from 11-13 September 2017 and will focus on global renewable energy development with a special focus on Latin America.

ALER is Member of REN21 since January 2016. Find more about this membership here.