Energy Secretary Moniz Hosts Gathering of World’s Energy Ministers in San Francisco to Advance Technology Solutions, Accelerate Clean Energy Deployment

21 Major Governments and the European Union Announce Efforts to Double Clean Energy R&D Investments over Five Years to $30 Billion per Year

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz hosted 23 governments and the European Union for the seventh Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM7) and the inaugural Mission Innovation (MI) Ministerial. At CEM7, three new global campaigns were launched:  the Advanced Cooling Challenge, the Energy Management Campaign, and the Corporate Sourcing of Renewables Campaign. The countries also agreed to launch a new phase of collaboration - “CEM 2.0.” 

In a second ministerial meeting also in San Francisco, the 20 Mission Innovation partners welcomed the European Union as the 21^st member, and all members released their respective baseline investment and doubling plans. Collectively, the MI partners committed to double nearly $15 billion per year in baseline funding for global public investment in clean energy research and development, reaching just under a combined total of $30 billion per year by 2021.

As the first major gathering of global energy ministers since last December’s Paris Agreement, CEM7 and the MI Ministerial brought together clean energy leaders from around the world. This meeting represented a crucial step towards accelerating both the deployment of today’s clean energy technologies and innovation for the technologies of the future. Ministers committed to ambitious action on implementing policies and solutions to meet countries’ climate and clean energy goals.

The week also featured other clean energy-focused events including the Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Symposium on Women in Clean Energy and the CEM Startups and Solutions Technology Showcase in San Francisco’s Union Square.

“CEM7 and MI are major driving forces for how the U.S. and global community can achieve the commitments made under the Paris Agreement,” said Secretary Moniz.  “The outcome of these two meetings can play an important role in deploying clean energy technologies today and developing tomorrow’s solutions that will facilitate the world’s transition to a clean energy economy.”

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is also releasing Federal Financing Programs for Clean Energy, a resource guide to U.S. government programs that supports the development of clean energy projects in the U.S. and abroad.

Featuring more than thirty programs from ten agencies, the guide includes summaries and case studies of programs that can benefit private sector partners in finding capital for clean energy projects.  Now in its third edition, the guide includes financing programs for both domestic and international projects.  For every program listed, the guide identifies contact information to answer questions and provide additional direction.  The guide includes programs from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, State, Transportation and Treasury, along with the Environmental Protection Agency, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Small Business Administration.

Seventh Clean Energy Ministerial

At CEM7, the 24 CEM members, representing 90 percent of global energy investment and 75 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, agreed to launch an enhanced effort – called “CEM 2.0” – to increase the level of political engagement of energy ministers with sustained initiatives by voting to move the CEM Secretariat to the International Energy Agency (IEA).  Nine CEM members – Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United States – committed to providing start-up funding to support the first three years of the new Secretariat. Also, the European Union today announces that, in cooperation with a member state, they will host CEM9 in 2018.

In addition, today, at the CEM, 21 countries, the European Union, nearly 60 companies and organizations, and 10 subnational governments, are also making more than $1.5 billion in commitments to accelerate the deployment of clean energy and increase energy access – including towards three new, high-impact campaigns to promote corporate sourcing of renewables, commercial and industrial energy efficiency, and advanced cooling technologies.

Secretary Moniz and fellow ministers announced new campaigns in three high-impact areas – advanced cooling technologies, commercial and industrial efficiency, and corporate sourcing of renewables – that can cut global carbon emissions while driving economic growth. These campaigns include:

Advanced Cooling Challenge: The new Advanced Cooling (AC) Campaign challenges governments and industry to develop and deploy at scale super-efficient, smart, climate friendly and affordable cooling technologies critical for prosperous and healthy societies furthering the goals of the Montreal Protocol. Access to cooling can improve health, productivity, economic growth, and educational outcomes. For example, improving the average efficiency of air conditioners sold in 2030 by 30 percent could reduce emissions by up to 25 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) over the lifetime of the equipment and reduce peak electricity demand by as much as 340-790 gigawatts.

To help achieve this goal, today Canada, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and the United States are joining the Advanced Cooling Challenge and are committing to promote greater use of cost-effective, energy efficient air conditioning and refrigeration equipment through appliance efficiency policies and programs.

Specifically, the U.S. government is partnering with the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, and other governments and international organizations to conduct critical research regarding the safe use of mildly flammable (A2L) and flammable (A3) refrigerants as low-global-warming-potential (low-GWP) alternatives to hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in the air conditioning and refrigeration sectors.

This research will support the acceleration of updated safety standards to allow widespread use of these climate-friendly refrigerants in the United States and internationally. In support of this effort, DOE is contributing $3 million in funding, AHRI is contributing $1 million, and ASHRAE is contributing $1.2 million.

Energy Management Campaign: The new Energy Management Campaign aims to secure 50,001 global certifications to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 50001 by 2020. ISO 50001, the global energy management system standard, has a proven framework of requirements to transform the way organizations manage energy and meet sustainable energy goals. Approximately 15,000 facilities worldwide have been certified to ISO 50001 since its launch in 2011, realizing energy improvements of 10 percent or more, often through low-cost or no-cost changes to operations. 

Broad implementation of ISO 50001 across commercial and industrial sectors globally could drive cumulative energy savings of approximately 62 exajoules by 2030, saving over $600 billion in energy costs and avoiding 6,500 Mt of CO2 emissions.  The projected annual emissions savings in the year 2030 are equivalent to removing 215 million passenger vehicles from the road per year.

A total of 15 CEM members are joining the campaign in a clear show of international support including Canada, Chile, China, Finland, Germany, the European Union, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Government efforts announced during the CEM will be amplified by commitments made from private sector leaders and endorsements from partner organizations.

The United States is announcing a new national campaign that accelerates the adoption of ISO 50001 and its national program Superior Energy Performance, to maximize energy savings in industrial, commercial, and institutional facilities. The North American governments of the United States, Canada and Mexico are also committing to advance ISO 50001 adoption in industry by establishing a regional ISO 50001 adoption target by 2017, supported by development of joint technical approaches and assistance programs in key sectors.

Corporate Sourcing of Renewables Campaign:  The new Corporate Sourcing of Renewables Campaign focuses on driving additional deployment of renewables across the range of CEM member countries. RE100, a global business initiative led by The Climate Group in partnership with Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), as an action of the We Mean Business coalition, has estimated that if 1,000 of the world’s most influential businesses become 100 percent powered by renewables, they could decarbonize almost a tenth of all electricity used worldwide and cut more than 1,000Mt of CO2 every year. Already, corporate purchase of power in the United States has supported more than 8 GW of projects, up from just 0.6 GW in 2009, and globally more and more companies are seeking out clean energy.

CEM members and partners joining the CEM campaign will work to significantly increase the number of companies powering operations with renewable energy and deploy supportive policies and resources that can help facilitate additional corporate sourcing of renewables. Today we are announcing that Germany and Denmark are leading the campaign with and China, the European Union, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States also joining.

New commitments and updates were also announced for the three campaigns launched last year at CEM6 in Mexico—the Global Lighting Challenge, Power Systems Challenge, and the Expanded Clean Energy Solutions Center.

Global Lighting Challenge: The Global Lighting Challenge (GLG) is working to deploy 10 billion to highly efficient LED lamps around the world.  As part of the challenge, the United States is announcing the third round of the Global LEAP Awards, featuring competitions for the world’s highest quality, most cost-effective and energy efficient off-grid appliances. The 2016-17 awards will be supported by Power Africa, through the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) U.S. Global Development Lab.

Power Systems Challenge: The ClimateWorks Foundation announced a strategic alignment of their philanthropic programs with CEM programs that support power sector decarbonization in Mexico, India, China and other CEM countries.

Clean Energy Solutions Center: The Clean Energy Solutions Center offers no-cost, fast response expert assistance on clean energy policy and finance measures to countries around the world.  Post-COP21, the Solutions Center serves as a critical component in helping countries implement their Nationally-Determined Contributions (NDCs) and other climate and clean energy goals. 

In March, Australia committed $722,600 to the Clean Energy Solutions Center with a focus on the Asia Pacific region. Today, Sweden announced that it is providing $200,000 in support toward the Center, with an emphasis on support for Clean Energy Solutions Center technical assistance in Africa and the Caribbean.

Inaugural Mission Innovation Ministerial

During the first day of the Paris climate negotiations last year, President Obama joined 19 other world leaders to announce Mission Innovation, an effort to double investments in clean-energy-technology research and development by 2021.

At the inaugural MI Ministerial, Secretary Moniz and ministers from the original 20 MI partner countries welcomed the European Union as the 21^st MI partner. Ministers from all 21 MI partners announced their respective governments’ specific plans to seek to double clean energy research and development funding over five years.

Collectively, these 21 partners committed to double their current funding of nearly $15 billion per year in global public investment in clean energy research and development, reaching just under a combined total of $30 billion per year by 2021. These commitments represent a transformational acceleration of efforts to develop new clean energy technologies and make them widely affordable to a global population.

The MI partners also approved an Enabling Framework and created a Steering Committee to support implementation of the initiative. The Mission Innovation partners represent well over 80 percent of global public investment in clean energy research and development.

During the MI Ministerial, ministers also met with leaders of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition (BEC), a group of private sector clean energy investors led by Bill Gates, and other top investors. Ongoing collaboration between MI, BEC, and other private-sector investors and industry underscores the critical link between government innovation and private entrepreneurship to bring affordable clean energy technologies to market.

C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium

At the fifth annual Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Women in Clean Energy Symposium, nine mid-career women across multiple disciplines were honored for their outstanding leadership and accomplishments in clean energy. Since the U.S. program’s launch in 2012, 36 mid-career women have been recognized with C3E Awards, through a collaboration that currently includes the DOE, the MIT Energy Initiative, and Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy. Each year, the C3E program has honored one woman for lifetime achievement.

Today, the White House also released a fact sheet covering the week of events in San Francisco, which can be found here.