Clean energy meeting kicks off in Mexico with call for more investment

The Sixth Clean Energy Ministerial Meeting kicked off Wednesday here in eastern Mexico, with a call for more investment in renewable energy and support from the private sector.

"It's up to us to make renewable energy synonymous with equity," Mexico's Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell told ministers and high-level delegates from 22 countries and the European Commission at the opening of the two-day meeting in Merida in the state of Yucatan.

Clean energy is a powerful force for the construction of a "less asymmetrical", "more balanced" world, Coldwell said.

Clean energy also represents profitable business opportunities, particularly in Mexico, said Coldwell, noting that the country's government introduced energy reforms in 2014 that have opened the state-owned energy sector industry to private investment.

The director of the International Renewable Energy Agency, Adnan Amin, said the world is poised for an energy revolution, and private enterprises need to play a bigger role.

Amin also highlighted the development of "intelligent electricity networks," or smart grids, that will help energy producers and consumers use energy in a more efficient, sustainable, profitable and safe way.

China's Minister of Science and Technology, Wan Gang, said all countries should show "real conviction" if progress is to be made toward clean energy.

"We are obligated to offer (a variety of) energy resources, such as wind power, hydroelectric power and solar power. We should offer extensive networks of all kinds of energy," Wan said.

To reduce harmful greenhouse gases, countries must cut back on the use of fossil fuels, Wan said, urging governments to promote clean energy as a way to bring CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions down to acceptable levels.

"We have to set limits and goals, each country according to its abilities," he said, adding as an example that in the past 10 years, China has promoted public transit systems that run on renewable energy sources.

While China continues to rely heavily on coal, it is at the same time working to develop technologies to reduce CO2, Wan said.

This edition of the forum, designed to spur clean energy cooperation, will also outline strategies for an upcoming United Nations conference on climate change in Paris, France from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.