COP26: João Lourenço commits to use 70 percent renewable energy by 2025

In an intervention this morning, the head of state said that the country favors "the production and consumption of clean energy from existing hydroelectric dams and others to be built, as well as more renewable energy sources, with emphasis on photovoltaic energy production projects such as solar parks, which will reduce the consumption of fossil fuels in the production of electricity".

Currently, he stressed, the country's energy matrix, one of the world's largest oil producers, already includes 62 percent of renewable sources and the ambition is "to reach 70 percent in 2025".

The head of state also expressed Angola's commitment to the effort to combat climate change with other measures, such as the protection and repopulation of forests, in particular mangroves, through a national campaign to plant mango seedlings along the extensive coastline. national.

Angola is one of more than 100 countries that signed a new agreement to stop and reverse deforestation and land degradation announced this Tuesday.

João Lourenço also said that Angola recently signed an agreement in Washington, in the United States, with the International Conservation Fund (ICCF) for the conservation of the Luengue-Luianae and Mavinga national parks "for the protection of animal and plant wildlife and the sustainable international tourism development".

The president reiterated his commitment to the Africa 2063 sustainable development goals, but did not specify the targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement.

"We reiterate here the firm will and determination of Angola to remain committed to Climate Action and to the adoption of a low-carbon development model," he concluded.

The President spoke in this morning's session of statements by countries on their goals and plans to combat environmental change.

Interventions by the heads of state or heads of government present in Glasgow began on Monday and end this afternoon.

More than 120 political leaders and thousands of experts, activists and public decision-makers gather until 12 November in Glasgow, Scotland, at the 26th United Nations (UN) Conference on Climate Change (COP26) to update contributions from countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

COP26 takes place six years after the Paris Agreement, which established as a goal to limit the increase in the global average temperature of the planet between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius above the values ​​of the pre-industrial period.

Despite the commitments made, concentrations of greenhouse gases reached record levels in 2020, even with the economic slowdown caused by the covid-19 pandemic, according to the UN, which estimates that, at the current rate of emissions, temperatures will be in the end of the century higher at 2.7 °C.