Ali tells UN that fossil fuel remains ‘necessary’ to facilitate energy transition

President Irfaan Ali

-calls for increased cost of carbon credits

While pointing out that the world is currently faced with an energy crisis with no end in the near future, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali told the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly that fossil fuels are a necessary means of energy while the world transitions to more sustainable means.

The Guyanese leader, in a wide ranging address at the UN headquarters in New York, said that as of 2019, almost 10% of the world’s population did not have access to electricity and that power generated by fossil fuels increased by 178% from 2000. He added that electricity generated from coal also increased by 173% from 2000.

He told world leaders that based on the recent information from the United States Energy Information Administration, coal-fired electricity generation is expected to be a key energy component as a result of several factors, which includes a drop in the share of natural gas and rising oil prices.