BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 24. The International Energy Agency (IEA) seeks a new mandate for ensuring reliable supplies of critical minerals, said the IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol during the ministerial meeting, Trend reports.
“Our numbers we published three weeks ago on emissions show that in 2021 global emissions increase was the highest in the history. This is in contradiction with our discussions in Glasgow. But there are reasons to be optimistic as well. Big growth coming from renewables, electric cars, many countries around the world committing to net zero emissions, the IEA’s net zero report being used as a guideline by many governments and many companies make us hopeful for the future,” he said.
Birol noted that the energy world is changing fast and needs to change even faster.
“The IEA is ready to support clean and secure energy transition. But I believe, it needs to be set up and mandated so that it can best respond to the challenges of today. Clean energy transition must be secure. In addition to our work on oil and gas security, I am asking our ministers for a new mandate for the IEA to have countries ensure reliable and sustainable supplies of critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel and rare elements that are so important for clean energy transition. This decade needs to see a surge in clean energy investments to put emissions into rapid decline,” he added.
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