BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 27. Turkmenistan will need 0.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually to achieve a ten percent share of Renewable Energy Sources by 2030, which is $1.6 billion per year, the economist from the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan Vladimir Valetka said, Trend reports.
He made the remark at the pre-conference dialogue "Green energy transition in Turkmenistan: getting ready for the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement" within the framework of the international conference and exhibition "Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan - 2024" in Ashgabat.
"Together with Turkmenistan's Ministry of Finance and Committee on Statistics, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have conducted a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) financing gap assessment, endorsed by the coordinating committee of our cooperation framework. The key commitments announced by Turkmenistan last year at the SDG Summit are well aligned with national priorities and international programs. The country must significantly increase funding to achieve all eight SDG priority transitions. We estimate that the financing gap for the SDGs is 2.8 percent of GDP annually between 2026 and 2030 to achieve the national goals. If a country is aiming for more ambitious global targets, for example, for renewable energy, where the national target is 10 percent renewable energy share in the energy mix and the global target is 25 percent, it would require 5.5 percent of GDP annually," he said.
According to him, in assessing the risks associated with a possible economic downturn due to volatile energy prices, given that Turkmenistan's economy is highly dependent on energy markets, the UN concluded that a 30 percent decline in economic growth could result in an SDG financing gap of eight percent for Turkmenistan.
"Specifically, for SDG 7 on energy and SDG 13 on climate, we determined that to achieve a 10 percent renewables share by 2030, the country would need 0.3 percent of GDP annually, which is $1.6 billion per year. If we aim for 25 percent, it will require almost $5 billion annually," he added.
To note, the forum "Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan - 2024" (OGT 2024) is an international platform that brings together leading national and international oil and gas companies, as well as industry experts and financial institutions. The main goal of the event is to strengthen the dialog on sustainable development of the energy sector and attract investments in the oil and gas industry of Turkmenistan. The forum will discuss the prospects of field development, modernization of processing facilities, as well as the introduction of advanced technologies and environmental aspects of hydrocarbon production.