The Energetika 21 International Conference invites for an international workshop in Budapest
with parallel online participation on “Reliable energy supply and climate protection: open
issues 10 years after Paris”.
Background:
Ten years ago, the fight against climate change made a decisive step forward by concluding the
Paris Agreement (PA) defining global procedures involving all countries. While progress has
been made, major challenges remain, especially looking at the narrow time frame left. The
renewed withdrawal by the USA in 2025 has — at least temporarily — weakened the process,
while other developments have highlighted shortcomings of the present implementation of the
PA. Total global emissions of Green House Gases (GHG) increased by 9.7% between 2015
and 2024. Many signatories of the PA did not submit their Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs) in time and the implementation of the NDCs submitted would fail to
reach the defined target of 1.5°C (agreed at COP 28) by more than 1°C. While the process
needs including the major government and non-government stakeholders, the attempt to find
compromises at COP meetings between thousands of public and private stakeholders entails
the risk of passing over important elements of the global rationale needed to address the Climate issue.

— The IPCC report on 1.5°C shows how a scientifically derived remaining CO2 budget in
combination with an approach of early decarbonization would allow staying within
1.5°C. This substitute of “Net Zero by 2050” promotes puristic policies like the
complete phase-out of fossil fuels by 2050 instead of phasing out their GHG emissions
asap.
— Mitigating global climate change by NDCs must be squared with reliability and
availability of energy supply to all.
— Technology issues are focussed on renewable roll out, which will fall short of primary
energy demand. Also, the large seasonal variations of energy demand will not be
covered by renewables in the global North. On-demand energy supply will be covered
by fossil fuels with CCS instead of renewables for decades to come.
— The reliance on NDCs as common but differentiated responsibility for climate
protection between all PA signatories, ignores the profound differences between the
Global North and the Global South. The countries of the Global South contribute only
minimally to GHG emissions, reflecting their low GDP, but need CO2-free growth to
raise present and future living standards.
It is difficult to discuss these issues in the present COP process. ENERGETIKA offers a forum
for such discussions. On day 1, this workshop will look at the chances to foster CO2-free
economic growth in the Global South based on the impressive development of PV
technologies. Day 2 will address the technology challenges to decarbonize the existing energy
infrastructure mainly in the North by CCS combined with renewables with large-scale storage
of electricity.
Organizational issues:
The language of the workshop is English. It will take place in Budapest with the option to
participate online. Participation is free, subject to registration and available places. To register,
please, contact the Organizing Committee – energetika@unecon.ru.