IRENA Director-General Adnan Amin visits Germany
Adnan Amin, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), arrived in Berlin today for a two-day official visit at the invitation of the German government. Federal Environment Minister Peter Altmaier and Federal Development Minister Dirk Niebel stressed IRENA's pivotal role in the global switch to renewable energies.
Director-General Adnan Amin commended Germany on its role as an important leader and partner in the international expansion of renewable energies and underlined the significance of renewables for sustainable growth and development and for global climate protection. Well over 100 countries worldwide are promoting the use of renewable energies, including China and oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia. Despite the financial crisis, global investment in renewable energies increased by almost 20 percent in the past year alone, to a volume of 257 billion dollars.
Federal Environment Minister Peter Altmaier said: "Germany is one of the pioneers in the global switch to renewable energies. We must improve coordination and cooperation of this process, especially among those countries that are in the vanguard of the transformation of energy systems. This is why IRENA is so important for us as the voice, hub and advisory resource in the global energy revolution."
Dirk Niebel, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, added:"We stand ready to support renewable energies and energy efficiency at international level, and we will do this with the necessary determination and commitment. Germany is a credible pioneer in this field. Others trust us, and we are leveraging this trust in our development cooperation. We support our cooperation countries in establishing sustainable and efficient energy systems, thus making a major contribution to the fight against climate change. IRENA is an important partner in our work." Energy is the biggest sector of German development cooperation. New funding totalling more than 1.8 billion euros was approved for renewable energies and energy efficiency in 2011.
Germany initiated the establishment of IRENA and has supported the Agency since it was founded in 2009. One of the three programmatic areas of IRENA, the Innovation and Technology Centre (IITC), is based in Bonn.