(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 1. As the COP29 host,
Azerbaijan has a tremendous opportunity to help world keep tackling
methane emissions, Kimberly D. Harrington, Deputy Assistant
Secretary for the Bureau of Energy Resources of the US State
Department, said in an exclusive interview with Trend , as she has
visited Baku to take part in the 10th meeting of the Southern Gas
Corridor Advisory Council.
"It's a real pleasure to be here. This is my first trip to
Azerbaijan. So, it's exciting for me. But I want to take a step
back and just explain a little bit about what the Bureau of Energy
Resources does and how we got here, why I'm at this ministerial.
The Bureau of Energy Resources serves at the nexus of energy
security, decarbonization, and energy access for the State
Department. One of our first projects that we really pushed, that
was foundational to the creation of our bureau was the Southern Gas
Corridor. We always say that Azerbaijan is in the DNA of our
bureau, and it truly is. Now between the ministerial and Azerbaijan
hosting COP, these two foundational goals are centered here in
Baku. It's really delightful to be here. The US government is very
proud of the role that it had for over a decade in supporting the
Southern Gas Corridor and, of course, its final stages of becoming
fully operational in 2020," she said.
Harrington noted that she was at Sangachal, and saw the
pipeline, which is signed by a number of officials, including one
from the US government.
"I think that it just goes to show that a long-term goal of our
bureau has been to bolster energy security in the region. And that
really means diversifying routes and diversifying access, so that
no country is overly dependent on a single source for its energy
resources. Europe very rightly has some important goals to wean
itself off Russian oil and Russian gas. In fact, one of its primary
goals is to wean itself off Russian gas completely by 2027. The
more diversity of resources, the more they can help advance that
goal and we see the Southern Gas Corridor as part of that. I think
there's still work to be done for Europe to be able to achieve that
goal. But, in short, our goals with the Southern Gas Corridor now
are the same as they were a decade ago when the bureau was founded
to diversify energy resources for our partners and allies," she
said.
Southern Gas Corridor's expansion
Harrington pointed out that the US certainly supports the
expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor, and certainly supports
Azerbaijan and the EU agreeing to double gas exports and sees the
Southern Gas Corridor as obviously foundational to achieving that
goal.
"European energy security is only bolstered by diversification
and bolstered by more routes, enhanced routes like the Southern Gas
Corridor. We really want to make sure that our partners and allies
are not subject to the weaponization of energy as we have seen.
We've seen more interconnectors come online in Europe recently,
including the interconnector Greece-Bulgaria by which Azerbaijani
gas is flowing. The more Azerbaijani gas gets to more parts of
Europe, the better as far as we're concerned. That connector is
operating in an area where Russia had a near monopoly before. We'll
continue to really support these efforts. And we think this
expansion of Azerbaijani gas is going to make a difference for a
lot of countries," she said.
Cooperation in green energy
DAS Harrington noted that the US really sees Azerbaijan as
having tremendous potential with solar and with wind.
"As I can tell, I was standing out of the Caspian yesterday, and
I could feel the wind. It's very, very obvious. Deploying
renewables has so many benefits, not just to our decarbonization
goals, but it also frees up molecules that might be used in
domestic market, to export overseas. There's a lot of benefits, and
renewables and supporting renewables is foundational to what we
do.
I've been in Baku for a number of days now, so I've had the
chance to discuss some of these goals with officials. I was just in
a meeting with Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov. We
talked a little bit about the green energy corridor concept. We
absolutely are interested in learning more and looking to see how
we might be able to support these ambitious plans. And I would say,
Azerbaijan has pulled off some pretty impressive major
infrastructure projects before - Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Southern Gas
Corridor. It's not going to be easy to pull off another major green
energy corridor. I have to say, these connectors are not going to
be easy, but if anyone can prove that the doubters are wrong, it's
Azerbaijan, because Azerbaijan has done it in the past," she
added.
Harrington noted that expansion of cooperation in renewables is
absolutely an area the US is looking forward to expanding with
Azerbaijan.
"Domestically in the United States, we've taken a lot of really
important measures under the Biden administration to advance the
deployment of clean energy, to advance the deployment of
renewables. These include underpinning legislation, like the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and
Science Act. These are really turbocharging clean energy research
and development in the United States. Minister Shabazov recently
had the chance to visit the National Renewable Energy Labs in
Colorado, and he discussed ways to increase our cooperation on
renewables with our partners from the Department of Energy there.
So, as Azerbaijan deploys more renewables, we stand ready to
partner, to ensure that these deliverables can immediately deliver
electricity to the citizens of Azerbaijan and beyond.
I'd say one area that comes to mind more specifically, though,
where we might be able to partner, and which makes a lot of sense
given that the UAE just hosted COP and Azerbaijan is about to host
COP, is leveraging the partner that the United States has with the
United Arab Emirates. It's called the Partnership for Accelerating
Clean Energy. It was established in 2022, and it aims at catalyzing
$100 billion in green energy investment and support for clean
energy projects around the globe by 2035," she said.
DAS Harrington believes that given Masdar's partnerships and
really committed demonstration to working here in Azerbaijan in the
renewables market, the three-way collaboration between the United
States, Azerbaijan, and the UAE in this sphere holds a lot of
possibilities.
Expectations from COP29
"First of all, I want to congratulate Azerbaijan for hosting
COP. It's in fact an incredibly important COP as we continue to
really suffer from the impacts of the climate crisis around the
world and see more extreme weather events occurring each and every
year. So I think it's important. This COP is incredibly important
as we look to preserve the climate for future generations. One of
the big priorities for this COP, I would say, is maintaining the
momentum from the last COP28. And there were a couple of
commitments that were particularly important that were underscored
at COP28.
First of all, the tripling of renewable energy by 2030, second
is a doubling of efficiency by 2030. And of course, this COP was
the first time that leaders committed to transition away from
fossil fuels completely in the future. So there's still a lot of
work ahead of us to keep the 1.5 goal alive and within reach. But I
think COP28 put us one step closer. I'd say as well that as the
host of COP 29, Azerbaijan has a tremendous opportunity to help the
world keep tackling methane," she said.
Harrington went on to add that methane supercharges climate
change.
"It's 80 percent more potent than CO2. Its impacts on climate
change really are significant. The good thing about methane,
though, is that it doesn't last in the atmosphere as long as CO2.
So if we can lower methane emissions, we really have a chance to
try to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal alive. Of course, methane
doesn't just come from the oil and gas sector. It comes from other
sectors as well. However, when it comes to lowering methane
emissions, the lowest hanging fruit comes from the oil and gas
sector. Because really, methane emissions are in many ways a wasted
resource. It's natural gas, the resource that is either being
expelled into the air due to flaring, due to fugitive emissions.
And really, it's a wasted economic resource," she said.
Harrington highlighted tremendous efforts being made by bp and
SOCAR at Sangachal to reduce methane emissions.
"And I think this type of work is important to showcase to other
oil and gas producing countries during this COP. And when I was at
Sangachal, I was also particularly impressed to hear about their
plans to electrify the facility and to ultimately install renewable
energy to power the plant. Reducing methane emissions of the oil
and gas sector and decarbonizing to the greatest extent the oil and
gas sector is something that I think Azerbaijan can show tremendous
leadership on. And this really goes to show how energy security and
decarbonization can go hand in hand. One other thing I think is
important to highlight, there's this really great initiative of the
Troika, which is the UAE, Azerbaijan, and Brazil working together
to connect the dots between the three COPs and to make it crystal
clear to the world that none of these events are being held in
isolation. They're part of ensuring continuity. I look forward to
seeing all the efforts being made by the three partner countries
together. One other thing I think everyone is expecting that this
COP is also going to have a big focus on climate finance.
There were pledges to scale up climate finance to $100 billion.
And I think it's going to be a critical opportunity here in
Azerbaijan to advance this goal, to expand climate action around
the world. And I think we're going to see Azerbaijan's priorities
come forward more clearly in the next few months. We are really
excited to see what renewable initiatives and other initiatives
they plan to highlight," she concluded.
Follow the author on X: @Lyaman_Zeyn
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