19th December, 2017

UNEP FI has been engaging with the new Argentinian G20 presidency via the G20 Energy Efficiency Finance Task Group, of which UNEP FI is part of the secretariat. In his latest blog, UNEP FI’s Martin Schoenberg reports on the importance Argentina is placing on the role of energy efficiency continuing the work of Germany, the 2017 presidency. 

 

During a private high-level roundtable hosted at Germany´s Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUB) during COP 23 in Bonn, the new Argentinian G20 presidency identified energy efficiency as the focus area for its presidency, alongside renewable energy and the reduction of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. This builds on the emphasis placed on energy efficiency by the 2017 G20 presidency (Germany), for example, through the endorsement of the G20 Energy Efficiency Investment Toolkit during the G20 summit in Hamburg.

 

The G20 Energy Efficiency Finance Task Group also engaged with Argentina in-country in Buenos Aires. Argentina is currently normalising energy prices through the reduction of fossil fuel subsidies and attaches high political importance to energy efficiency as a means of softening the impact on the energy bills of households and industry and matching a rising energy demand.

 

Following its consultations with the Argentinian government, and during another roundtable hosted by the Argentinian banking association ADEBA, financial institutions from Argentina together with those from abroad with activities in Argentina, discussed the evolution of energy efficiency finance within the G20 with policy-makers. They agreed on several focus areas moving forward. This demonstrates the great willingness of the Argentinian banking sector to scale up its involvement with energy efficiency as its key institutions to move towards comprehensive sustainability.

 

UNEP FI´s engagement with the G20 will be taken to a new level through the energy efficiency forum to be organised before the first energy negotiation session of the G20 and its involvement in the ministerial meeting to be organised later in the year.

 

Considering the emphasis placed on mobilising private resources for infrastructure investment by the Argentinian G20 presidency, energy efficiency will have to sit at the centre of G20 considerations as an alternative way of securing capital to ensure a reliable, sustainable and affordable energy supply.

 

To find out more about UNEP FI’s work on energy efficiency click here.