BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 28
By Amina Nazarli - Trend:
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is exploring the possibility to organize a Renewable Energy Hard Talk in Turkmenistan this year or in 2023, Dmitry Mariyasin, Deputy Executive Secretary of the UNECE told Trend.
“Renewable and other sources of green energy are indeed an important opportunity for the countries of the region, including Turkmenistan,” he said.
According to him, a key element for the wider adoption of renewable energy is the level of awareness of key stakeholders.
“To this end, UNECE has been organizing what we call the Renewable energy Hard Talks. The Hard Talks take the form of multi-stakeholder dialogues organized in collaboration with host countries, local partners and international organizations such as the European Union, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), REN21 (Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century), and DENA (German Energy Agency),” he said.
Mariyasin added that the Commission had such sessions in several other countries like Georgia, Azerbaijan, or Serbia, over the past years, and they have proven successful in raising awareness in the need for accrued investments in renewables, and in identifying barriers that block private sector investment in the respective countries.
The deputy executive secretary noted that the UNECE is working with Turkmenistan and other countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia to facilitate the development of hydrogen, as a vector of decarbonization of the economy.
“Studies point out that hydrogen could transmit up to 24 percent of the world’s energy by 2050, and many countries are launching hydrogen strategies to position themselves. This project builds on the Technology Brief on Hydrogen we published last year,” he said.