On the sidelines of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has attended the high-level launching of the Energy Transition Accelerator Financing platform (ETAF) by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Launched on Tuesday, ETAF will help funnel urgently needed climate and renewable energy finance to selected projects in developing countries, especially Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Maldives has announced an ambitious plan to achieve Net Zero by 2030, with the aid from international partners.

With an aim to assist developing countries in finding sustainable renewable energy solutions, IRENA, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), and the government of United Arab Emirates established the IRENA/ADFD Project Facility.

Under the IRENA/ADFD Project Facility, Maldives is the first beneficiary.

A small-scale waste-to-energy project that will generate 0.5 megawatts will be launched under the first cycle.

The project on which Maldives requested support for was selected under the seventh cycle of the facility and is the waste-to-energy project in Addu City, which will see the generation of 1.5 megawatts of power from municipal solid waste.

This project is anticipated to reap benefits for about 35,000 people.

Accompanied by a high-level delegation of government officials including the Speaker of Parliament and Former President Mohamed Nasheed, Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology Aminath Shauna and the Special Envoy for Climate Change, Sabra Ibrahim Noordeen, the president arrived in Glasgow, Scotland on October 31.