CEM community convenes in Bali for Senior Officials’ Meeting
The annual Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Senior Officials’ Meeting was held in Bali, Indonesia from 15 – 17 May, co-hosted by Australia and Indonesia and welcoming over 200 delegates, representing 22 workstreams and campaigns, 24 member countries and many CEM partner organisations. This year, the Senior Officials’ Meeting and the Mission Innovation (MI) Annual Gathering were organised as a fully integrated programme, and brought the CEM and MI communities together to discuss potential outcomes and deliverables for the upcoming CEM15/MI-9 Ministerial meeting. The meeting provided a productive platform for the CEM and MI communities to exchange ideas, strengthen collaboration, and pave the way to the CEM15/MI-9 in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.
Over the course of the meeting, recognizing that 2024 marks the 15th anniversary of the founding of the CEM, members looked at the progress of the CEM over the past 15 years, reinforcing that:
Since its inception, the CEM has become one of the leading global implementation platforms for the clean energy transition.
The CEM community celebrated the path the CEM has taken since its creation in 2010. CEM members highlighted the early successes of CEM initiatives, such as the Global Lighting Challenge, which helped to spur more action-based initiatives over the past 15 years. Delegates noted that member-driven campaigns, including the Electric Vehicles 30@30 Campaign and the Equal by 30 Campaign, also raised the profile of the CEM and encouraged increased, active participation amongst the CEM community. CEM members credited these campaigns for marked improvements in their national policies.
Reflecting back, members also noted that one of the CEM’s strengths is its agility and ability to react to the latest needs and current gaps in clean energy deployment. This agility keeps the work of the CEM relevant and ahead of the curve. New workstreams are created to address new challenges, such as the new Supercharging Battery Storage Initiative launched in 2023, which member countries cited as helping to address national grid integration challenges. And when workstreams have achieved their objectives, they are celebrated and graduated, like the CEM Biofutures Campaign who will be graduated at CEM15.
Members value the CEM’s increased alignment and involvement in international fora
As the CEM has demonstrated its value as a platform able to address today’s energy challenges, it has gained visibility within political fora such as the COP, G20 and G7. During the meeting, CEM delegates welcomed the linkage with these fora and encouraged developing even stronger relationships with the COP and G20 presidencies, while also looking to potential links to regional fora such as APEC, ASEAN and OLADE. With the last 2023 CEM Ministerial meeting and the upcoming 2024 Ministerial being hosted alongside the G20 Presidencies (India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024), the CEM has an opportunity to build on this momentum to ensure its action-focused tools are available to support global policy ambitions.
Members pointed out that the COP28 meeting centred energy in its climate goals, creating a clear pathway for the CEM to continue strengthening its ties to the COP processes. Both COP28 and COP29 presidencies also took a moment to address the delegates at the Senior Officials’ Meeting through video messages, acknowledging the importance of the CEM’s work, and its strength as an implementer. COP28 UAE Chief Executive, Adnan Amin thanked the CEM for its valuable work in advancing the implementation of the UAE Consensus while Nigar Arpadarai, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP29 Azerbaijan, highlighted the need for continued support from CEM and MI to work to ensure that no one is left behind in the clean energy transition. And as the host of the upcoming COP30 in 2025, our 2024 CEM host reiterated their intentions to build on the CEM15 outcomes to support their COP30 presidency.
The CEM community is ready to push forward and continue driving the success of the CEM for the next 15 years.
In all discussions, it was clear that the CEM has a major role to play in accelerating the clean energy transition for the years to come. Members noted that the 15th anniversary of the CEM is the perfect time to look forward and chart the CEM’s path in its mission to accelerate the clean energy transition. Delegates identified energy challenges they would like to lead more CEM focused action on, including carbon markets, storage, and energy infrastructure.
Delegates also discussed how the challenges to the energy transition will be different in the next 15 years, including how to make the transition just and inclusive, taking into consideration the competitiveness aspects of the emerging clean energy era, and how the CEM needs to adapt, notably by increasing its focus on supporting members from Emerging and Developing Economies.
New areas of work were also proposed by CEM members, demonstrating the delegates’ motivation to continue using the CEM as a platform to build coalitions and address energy challenges together as a community.
CEM community members also used the convening opportunity afforded by the CEM SOM to hold many great events and discussions on the sidelines of the meeting. CEM continues to push boundaries, ensuring that our work remains inclusive and relevant to everyone in our community. Events on centring gender and equity in the just transition were held, with broad participation from our members and partners. A discussion with EMDE members and with key partners also took place to better understand their priorities, and to explore how we could work together to help them maximize the value of their participation in CEM. We were also happy to further align our technical work with MI through a first ever joint CEM/MI campaign proposal on carbon management.
Finally, the CEM SOM was an opportunity for members to hear from Brazil, the CEM15 Ministerial host, about their plans for the Ministerial and their ideas for aligning the G20 and CEM/MI Ministerial discussions and agendas. The official CEM15 website was launched, with information on the event continuously being updated.
We want to give a special thank you to Indonesia and Australia for generously hosting this year’s Senior Officials’ Meeting, and to Brazil as the hosts of this year’s CEM Ministerial meeting, for their active engagement during the three days in Bali. We also want to extend our thanks to the entire CEM community for your preparation and participation in the events, making it a productive and successful gathering, helping us to define a clear path to CEM15!
