NEWS RELEASE
Madrid, 11 December 2019 –This week, Mission Innovation (MI) members profiled progress in clean energy innovation and launched new initiatives at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25).
COP25 marks the beginning of a year to build ambition toward a second phase of Mission Innovation. It was announced that a decision on the future direction of MI will be made at the next Ministerial (MI-5), hosted by Chile in Viña del Mar from 2-5 June 2020. To help inform the decision, the MI Secretariat released a thinkpiece entitled “Mission Innovation Beyond 2020: Successes, challenges and opportunities,” summarising the current status and future trends in clean energy.
Juan Carlos Jobet, Chile’s Minister of Energy said, “We are excited to host MI-5. Together, we will decide on a fresh path for MI’s next years and will focus on efforts to raise ambition across the public and the private sector.”
“Mission Innovation was launched at COP21 and its mission and goals remain relevant here at COP25,” said Professor John Loughhead, Chair of MI Steering Committee. “As we work toward MI’s next phase, which we hope will be launched at COP26, MI will continue bringing governments together to boost global clean energy innovation and we will push for even greater ambition to that we can bring affordable, reliable clean energy to communities around the world.”
In addition, MI launched of a second round of the Champions Program, to celebrate and support innovative individuals who are accelerating the clean energy revolution by working on key clean energy research and technology developments. The application and nomination process will open on from January 20, 2020 to April 1, 2020, and will be followed by extensive peer-to-peer review and an evaluation by a diverse panel of experts from around the globe. Successful Champions will travel to Chile in June 2020 to take part in MI-5.
“The European Commission is proud to support the 2020 Mission Innovation Champions programme,” said Patrick Child, the E.C.’s Deputy Director General for Research and Innovation. “Today, individuals across the globe are working on the innovations that will drive the clean energy revolution; this is their opportunity to bring their creative solutions to the attention of policy-makers, investors, and the public at large.”
Chile, organised an “Energy Day” focused on carbon-neutral strategies and the role that various actors, from governments to the civil society, could play to take immediate action with an MI-focused session focused on hydrogen. The day concluded with a Ministerial Dialogue led by Juan Carlos Jobet, Minister of Energy for Chile. The U.K. also profiled MI at the launch of a newly-released report, “Accelerating the Low Carbon Transition,” highlighting an urgent need for coordinated international action between government, business and industry to accelerate the energy transition. MI and the Global Covenant of Mayors hosted a session on “Scaling up action through research and innovation” at the EC Pavilion to discuss “cities as innovation hubs and living labs”.
Sweden also presented the Net-Zero Compatible Innovations Initiative, which aims to hasten innovation in clean energy by increasing transparency of actual and potential emissions reductions, making it easier for governments, companies, and investors to identify, support, and fund the next generation of innovators.
Finally, Mission Innovation also supported the 10th Annual Sustainable Innovation Forum, the major public-private side event of COP25, because the Start-Up community is a crucial force in driving the innovative technologies and solutions required to push boundaries on climate action. MI congratulates Gaël Lavaud of Gazelle Tech for winning the award for the Sustainable Innovation Hub Solution of the Year!
For more information:
- Mission Innovation Champions:
About Mission Innovation
Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 24 countries and the European Commission (on behalf of the European Union) working to reinvigorate and accelerate global clean energy innovation with the objective to make clean energy widely affordable. MI was announced at COP21 alongside the Paris Agreement on November 30, 2015, as world leaders came together in Paris to commit to ambitious efforts to combat climate change.