4th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM4)

India hosted the fourth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM4) in New Delhi on 17–18 April 2013. Energy ministers and other high-level delegates from 23 of the world’s leading economies met and collaborated to identify tangible steps that each government can take to generate more rapid progress toward CEM’s overall goal—accelerating the transition to a global clean energy economy. 

Scene-Setter

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of India’s Planning Commission, welcomed Ministers in the opening plenary, noting that the CEM brings together governments accounting for four-fifths of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu highlighted the importance of the CEM’s 13 initiatives to make concrete progress on energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy access, smart policy, and women in clean energy. Chu also highlighted the CEM’s engagement with private sector partners via six public-private roundtables on select clean energy topics. 

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the Ministers, commending the CEM’s work as an excellent forum for experience sharing. He also highlighted India’s commitment to double renewable energy capacity from 25,000 megawatts in 2012 to 55,000 megawatts by 2017.

Maria van der Hoeven, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, presented the 2013 Tracking Clean Energy Progress report, prepared for CEM4, which for the first year includes a chapter on innovation, in line with the theme selected by the Indian government as host of CEM4. She highlighted renewable energy and electric vehicle deployment as areas of notable progress but told Ministers that much more needed to be done in other clean energy sectors.

Michael Liebreich of Bloomberg New Energy Finance presented data on global investments in clean energy and told Ministers that such investment would need to be 2.5 times greater than current levels (roughly $300 billion) in order for carbon dioxide emissions to peak by 2020. 

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Kim applauded the work of the Clean Energy Ministerial via video messages.  

Public-Private Roundtables: 

Six public-private roundtables: were convened addressing six clean energy themes:

• Solar PV: Reducing Soft Costs
• Clean Vehicle Adoption
• Power Markets in Emerging Economies
• Renewable Policy and Finance
• Energy Management Systems
• Mini-Grid Development

The roundtables brought together energy ministers, business leaders, and experts from nongovernmental organizations and academia to further identify the policies, technologies, investment, and skills needed to advance the six topic areas.

Stakeholder Engagement

CEM4 also included opportunities for stakeholder engagement via three side events. 

An Innovation Showcase Pavilion (ISP) highlighted innovative products and services that can accelerate the global deployment of clean energy. The ISP was inaugurated on the evening of 16 April and continued through the afternoon of 18 April.

A C3E Women in Clean Energy event (view event summary) followed the ISP inauguration and featured remarks from Elizabeth Dipuo Peters, Energy Minister of South Africa. A short film on the C3E initiative and its goals was screened, followed by a panel discussion on “Women and Clean Energy Innovation” featuring four distinguished panelists and moderated by Leena Srivastava of The Energy and Resources Institute.

A SEAD Global Efficiency Medal Awards presentation on 17 April recognized the manufacturers of the winning products in the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition for televisions.

CEM4 closed with a press conference on 18 April. Following the official close of CEM4 on the afternoon of 18 April, other civil society organizations, public-private partnerships, and nongovernmental organizations were invited to make clean energy related announcements.