IRENA Director-General Highlights Infrastructure as Key Bottleneck for Renewable Energy Growth Ahead of COP31
Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), has identified infrastructure as the primary impediment to the expansion of renewable energy. Speaking at ADIPEC 2026 in Abu Dhabi, La Camera emphasized that the need for new networks should be a central focus of the upcoming COP31 climate summit, scheduled to open on November 9 in Antalya, Türkiye. He stressed the necessity for governments and multilateral financial institutions to increase development support for these networks. La Camera noted that while renewable generation has grown rapidly in some regions, such as China, the lack of adequate systems to transmit and distribute this power has created inefficiencies. He also highlighted that demand for energy is rising faster than anticipated, partly due to evolving lifestyles and the energy-intensive requirements of data centers supporting artificial intelligence. Despite the goal agreed at COP28 to triple renewable capacity by 2030, La Camera suggested that eve...
