Francesco La Camera

Francesco La Camera is an Italian civil servant, academic, diplomat who was elected the second Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and assumed office on 4 April 2019. At the IRENA, he has a four-year tenure, after succeeding Adnan Z. Amin of Kenya, who served in a two-term tenure from 2011 to 2019 and has been given the honorary title of Director-General Emeritus. La Camera's election took place in the context of the Ninth Session of the annual Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi. La Camera was previously the Director-General for Sustainable Development, Energy and Climate at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea, where he was involved in international cooperation and partnerships agreements globally, especially in Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Biography

Education and early career Born in Italy, Francesco La Camera was educated at the University of Messina where he received a degree in political science, with a concentration in economic policy.

He was pivotal in the preparation, promotion and adoption of the Espoo and Aarhus Conventions. Within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, he led the delegation on the negotiations concerning the Aarhus Convention (1998–2007) and the Espoo Convention (1992–2002), the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (Helsinki 1992), the Convention on (EIA) in a Transboundary Context (Espoo 1991).

Upon his selection as the Director-General of the IRENA, the Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action at the European Commission, Miguel Arias Cañete noted, "The election of a European candidate for this important organisation demonstrates our leadership in the global world of renewables. I am confident that Mr. La Camera is the right person to lead the International Renewable Energy Agency in the next phase of renewables deployment worldwide".

Upon assuming his new role Francesco La Camera will lead the IRENA Secretariat and the implementation of the Agency's work programme and budget, in areas relating to international cooperation on renewable energy, providing a centre of excellence for knowledge and innovation which supports countries world-wide in their transition to a sustainable energy future. La Camera tweeted his gratitude, writing: "Thanks to the IRENA membership for the trust. I am honoured to have been elected DG [director-general]. We will do a great job together". Dutch ambassador to the UAE, Frank Mollen said he looked forward to working with the new Director-General. Dominique Ristori, the Director-General for Energy of the European Commission who represented the European Union at IRENA's ninth assembly, offered his full support. La Camera's colleagues at the Italian ministry parastatal, the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), the President of the National System for Environmental Protection (SNPA), Stefano Laporta and the Director-General, Alessandro Bratti conveyed their felicitations with the goodwill message, "Renewables, an essential choice for the future of the planet."

At the conference, IRENA and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) agreed to a $31 million loan facility to finance projects in Guyana, Liberia and Togo. Of this amount, $8 million will go towards the installation of 5.2MW grid-connected solar photovoltaic systems to reduce fossil fuel consumption and increase electricity reliability in Guyana. Another $8 million will go to the construction of a 2.1MW hydropower plant in Liberia and a further $15 million will go to a 30MW solar photovoltaic plant in Togo with capacity to power 700,000 homes. This funding takes the amount invested by IRENA and the ADFD to $245 million since 2013.

Two new reports were also published at the Assembly: Renewable Energy: A Gender Perspective, providing a commentary of women participation in the renewables sector, in addition to A New World: The Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation, an exposé on the changing global energy situation due to the renewable energy transformations.