IEA Chief Says EU Green Deal Can Help Europe Become Leader In Technology, Innovation

IEA Chief Says EU Green Deal Can Help Europe Become Leader in Technology, Innovation

International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Tuesday in an interview with Sputnik that the European Union's Green climate initiative could help the bloc transition into becoming a leader in innovative cost-effective technology

DAVOS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2020) Anastasia Levchenko - International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Tuesday in an interview with Sputnik that the European Union's Green climate initiative could help the bloc transition into becoming a leader in innovative cost-effective technology.

The European Green Deal is a comprehensive set of policies that aims to make the EU carbon-neutral region by 2050.

"The European Green Deal, combined with strong and coherent national energy and climate plans, has the potential to enable a cost-effective and guided transition across the EU within a common framework to promote innovation, industrial transformation and technology leadership, as well as a just transition," Birol said.

However, the IEA chief added that the transition needed to be secure and affordable.

Getting member states to sign the Green Deal was one of the first initiatives Ursula von der Leyen undertook after becoming European Commission president on December 1. On Wednesday, the European Parliament voted in favor of the plan and called for an "adequately funded" transition mechanism to ensure carbon neutrality by 2050.