As the IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera said recently at the International Energy Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: “It is perfectly possible to generate sufficient cheap, reliable energy from renewable sources. Not only is it possible, but it is also our best option, as it would bring higher socio-economic benefits than business as usual, and it would allow us to effectively address climate change.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that Russia will work with Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations to counter recent instability in the oil markets caused by attacks on energy sites in the Middle East.

UAE is the leading Arab investor in the US, while noting that the value of the non-oil trade doubled over the past decade, reaching some AED90 billion (US$24.5 billion) in 2018, and explaining that the UAE trades with almost all US states, especially Washington, California, Texas, Florida and New York.

"As we convene today, short term energy demand has continued to soften in response to current downside risks in the global economy. However, over the medium and long-term, the outlook remains positive, solid, and robust. By 2040, three times the amount of energy consumed by all of Europe will be added to global energy demand. In the face of current economic headwinds, we need to control costs, while staying focused on capital efficiency and targeted long-term investment," Dr. Al Jaber noted.

"Developed countries have witnessed sluggish growth of nuclear power - except for six units in Finland, France, the US and the UK, no other nuclear power plant had been built in North America and the EU area for about 30 years. Over the same period however about 100 units were built in developing and emerging economies."

Global efforts to tackle climate change are futile as long as opposition to nuclear power persists, delegates heard at the opening session of the International Atomic Energy Agency's International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power. It is the Vienna-based agency's first conference on this topic.

"Greater magnitudes of uncertainty lead to volatility," he said, "and for a capital-intensive sector like ours, this means less investment and more risk to security of supply. This is especially true in power markets that are open to competition: their market design must be adaptive, and long-term contracts used for all types of generation."

A contract for Tokamak machine assembly for the ITER International Fusion Energy Organisation signed by a consortium led by China Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation (CNPE) is the biggest nuclear energy project contract that Chinese companies have ever bid for in the European market.

Plans for the Turkish Wealth Fund (TVF) to take part in investments in the energy sector were highlighted in the New Economy Program (NEP), which covers the period 2020-2022, and will be implemented under the main theme of "Change Begins."

EIA projects that renewables will collectively increase to 49% of global electricity generation by 2050. Of the top three renewable sources, EIA expects solar’s share of generation to grow the fastest and hydroelectric’s share to grow the slowest.