DPM Prasad attends India Energy Week in Goa India
FIJI will walk the talk when it comes to climate action such as transitioning towards 100 per cent renewable energy. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad, while speaking at the India Energy Week, Ministerial Panel: Powering tomorrow- the future outlook for energy markets, said this transition will take place despite the financial and economic imperatives.
DPM Prasad emphasised that despite Fiji being a very small contributor of carbon dioxide, the national priority was to move towards 100 percent renewable energy.
He emphasised that transition can only succeed with adequate financing, strong commitment from government, state actors and private institutions.
DPM also highlighted that in Fiji, around 50 percent of the electricity was currently generated through renewable sources whilst the other 50 percent was sourced from fossil fuels which has a significant import cost and a major drain on foreign exchange reserves every year. It was also vulnerable to global price fluctuations, inflation and cost of production, impact on socio-economic conditions, which have a major bearing for the overall economy.
DPM further elaborated that apart from these financial imperatives for energy transition, Fiji was a fierce proponent of decarbonisation and energy transition as it was one of those countries that are feeling the brunt of climate change and from a moral perspective the world needs to move faster with transition to clean energy.
He also strongly voiced out Pacific and small islands unique challenges surrounding decarbonisation, economic growth, collaboration and energy transition including access and cost of financing, challenges associated with geographically dispersion of our islands and transition and vulnerabilities of the decarbonisation in the transport and aviation sector.
Tajikistan’s Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Resources and Netherland’s Energy Special Envoy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs were also part of the panel.