Govt. woos foreign investors who can reduce climate change

Thursday, 22 December 2022 00:57 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Presidential Adviser on International Climate Change Eric Solheim with Presidential Adviser on Climate Change Ruwan Wijewardene

The Government has focused on bringing in foreign investors to Sri Lanka for climate change mitigation projects.

The Government’s plan is to bring in foreign investors to achieve the three goals, achieving a 70% renewable energy target, achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and exploring the international market for carbon emission permits

A discussion in this regard was held on Monday (19) at the Presidential Secretariat under the chairmanship of Presidential Adviser on Climate Change Ruwan Wijewardene, and Presidential Adviser on International Climate Change Eric Solheim.

Solheim shared his international knowledge on future energy sources such as concessional climate finance, carbon credits, carbon markets, renewable energy and hydrogen with the officials present for the discussion.

Speaking about renewable energy, Solheim pointed out that countries like India and China have many strong advantages in it, and Sri Lanka can also achieve the same advantages.

He further pointed out that he believes that President Ranil Wickremesinghe will solve all the problems that have affected the country.

Ruwan Wijewardene stated that the renewable energy sector is rapidly growing and there are a large number of such investors in Europe, America, Canada and other countries.

He pointed out that those investments should be brought in so that the people of Sri Lanka will be benefited, and he also said that close attention should be paid to this while formulating policies.

Wijewardene further mentioned that a conference on renewable energy is scheduled to be held in the near future, which would help to attract investors to the country.

Secretary to the Ministry of Environment Anil Jasinghe, Climate Change Office Director Kumuduni Vidyalankara, Assistant Director R.M.R.D. Weerasuriya, Department of External Sources Additional Director General Udeni Udugahapatthu, Ministry of Power and Energy Director Pandula de Silva, Sri Lanka Electricity Board Deputy General Manager Engineer M.L. Weerasinghe, Chief Engineer Vajira Wijekoon, Chief Engineer K. Ramji, Sajana Suriyarachchi, Hashan Jayakodi and representatives of Sunitya Energy Authority also participated in this discussion.