ABU DHABI, JANUARY 15 – The International Renewable Energy Agency’s global membership of 168 countries has appointed the incumbent Director-General for a second term of four years. Francesco La Camera has served as Director-General of IRENA since 4 April 2019.
Before stepping in at IRENA, Mr. La Camera was Director General for Sustainable Development, Energy and Climate at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea. He led the EU and Italian negotiation teams at the climate COP 20 in Lima and was the head of the Italian delegation to the three previous COPs. He has also represented Italy in many international forums including at the EU, UNECE, UNCSD, UN Environment, and the OECD. From 2003 to 2010 he was also Professor of Environmental and Land Economics at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Rome Tre. Mr. La Camera has a degree in political science from the University of Messina.
The 13th session of the Assembly has concluded today with other decisions for the future of the Agency. IRENA Members have agreed on the Agency’s Medium-Term Strategy (MTS) for the coming five years. The new work strategy for 2023-2027 sets out a new direction for the Agency focused on urgent and targeted action, unparalleled international cooperation, and continuous innovation.
Against the backdrop of a rapidly shrinking timeline to deliver on global climate and developments goals by 2030, this MTS is the last full five-year cycle before 2030 that outlines IRENA’s contribution to global energy efforts.
It focuses on systemic changes in energy and beyond with greater focus on access and equality, on interaction between renewables and energy security and resilience and an additional pillar on regional and country level work.
“We must build a new energy system with the tools and systems of the future, not the past. Just as we innovate to improve technologies, we must innovate to reimagine international cooperation for the new energy era”, said La Camera.
He added: “A renewables-based transition is a vehicle for climate-proof energy systems, improved energy security, reduced inequality and long-overdue universal access. I am deeply humbled to have been appointed for a new term as Director-General. I will continue to work tirelessly to realise IRENA’s new global mission.”
Among the founding countries of IRENA, Italy was represented at the Assembly by Giorgio Silli, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation: “The unprecedented energy crisis we are currently experiencing, triggered on a global level by Russia’s ruthless aggression against Ukraine, has prompted significant improvements in energy use, with a strong boost to the energy transition in Europe, in particular over the past year,” he said in his speech. (@OnuItalia)