Remarks as Delivered by Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm at the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC) Ministerial

Bucharest, Romania
Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Thank you so much, Minister Burduja-just beautiful, beautiful words. And beautiful words from the president as well. So grateful for this welcome.

Ambassador, all of the ministers who are here, thank you for your leadership in prioritizing this area and the issues that have been addressed: security and clean energy and climate.

You know, I think the Romanian government is really a model for clean energy development-from nuclear, as you've described, to geothermal, which we'll be talking about, and beyond.

It is a pleasure to share the stage with you. I think Director General La Camera is here as well, from IRENA. So glad to be able to share the stage with him as well.

I want to recognize all of the panelists who appeared yesterday. As was noted, this is the second day of this forum, and the official start of P-TECC.

Our private sector partners have laid out their plans to advance the energy transition-and today, we're going to dive into the policies that enable those plans.

But just for a moment, I want to touch on the matter of Ukraine.

Because [in] the past 900 days, Russia has killed thousands of innocent Ukrainians, devastating families and communities.

You know, there are the numbers, and then there [is] the reality on the ground.

That three-year-old Ukrainian girl, Katarina, with the pink bow, who died in the arms of her mother.

The 82-year-old grandfather who was shelled while sheltering his bride of 60 years.

The human toll causes us to roar with anger. What kind of evil are we dealing with here?

And the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure, including the electric grid and the power generation itself, are designed to provoke a humanitarian crisis. Designed for that purpose.

But despite Putin's desire to cause us to divide, despite Putin's attempts to crush Ukraine, we are more united than ever. Together, all of us here, our global partners and those particularly in this region.

Deputy Andarak, are you there? Deputy [Energy] Minister of Ukraine.

Thank you and your brave team for being with us, and for your continued strength, and your stellar example. We are all Ukrainians.

As this conflict has laid bare, the clean energy transition is about so much more than budgets and bottom lines-not only for the people of Ukraine, but for this other foe-this other foe that we have created ourselves as humans, which is climate change.

That foe is attacking every corner of the world.

For the mother and her daughters who are trapped in their home [by] floods in Slovakia… the family who lost their home in wildfires in Cyprus… for the child facing heat exhaustion as temperatures soar in Austria… our success in this transition is a matter of life and death.

Reaching net zero by 2050 is not an option-it's a necessity. An imperative. And we need to do this work, as you all know, right now if we're going to get there.

I quoted yesterday the great playwright Eugene Ionescu, who also wrote this: "We have not the time to take our time."

For our part, the United States is delivering on, really, an unprecedented industrial strategy for clean energy.

I went over this a bit yesterday. But it's worth just underscoring how unique it is for us, as a nation, and how successful it has been-to be able to do the investments in both research and development, [and] demonstration and deployment of clean energy technologies.

As a result of the incentives in President Biden and Vice President Harris' laws, as a result of those investments, in the United States, we have seen 785 factories open up across our nation. Building products for this clean energy transition in pockets of the country that had been left behind, where factories had left and closed down.

And now people are seeing new life-like a phoenix rising from the ashes. All over the country.

And it's because this global opportunity of clean energy in this sector is ripe for us all. The investments that the private sector [is] making [not only] here in Romania, but in this region-the investments they are making in the United States and around the world-mean that every country can take advantage of this economy. Of this economic revolution. This clean energy revolution.

We're also making real strides, not just on the economy, and taking advantage of this new sector, but in the climate fight itself.

In the United States, by 2030, we are on pace to double the share of our electricity that is generated by clean sources and to slash our emissions by 40%. Just by the virtue of the laws that were passed under the Biden-Harris Administration

If you add on what states and what the private sector are doing, we are on track to slash our emissions by 50%. That is terrific.

More importantly, we're on pace to prevent 18,000 deaths from air pollution, and 118,000 asthma attacks.

And of course, globally, the story is the same.

Together, we added more than 500 gigawatts of renewable energy in 2023-setting a new record for the 22^nd year in a row.

People registered more than 250,000 electric vehicles every week last year-more than the annual [total] ten years ago.

And solar and wind capacity continue to skyrocket-on track to triple in the next decade.

To put these numbers in perspective-and I appreciate the knowledge curve you shared, Minister-the first commercial renewable power plant was built over 100 years ago.

In the next five years alone, the world is on track to add more renewable capacity than we have had since that plant came online.

In other words: five years to make a century of progress.

We've never had this kind of momentum or this level of investment before.

But to maintain it, of course, we have to keep our foot on the accelerator.

According to the IEA, we collectively-the globe-we need to invest trillions in clean energy every year through 2030 to achieve a successful transition.

We have to add or replace over 80 million kilometers of transmission and distribution infrastructure by 2040-the equivalent length of the entire existing global grid.

We have to think differently about the grid infrastructure. It is akin to the transportation corridors, to the road and highway infrastructure. We need to invest in it like that. That piece of infrastructure, so critical.

And we have to seriously build out the clean energy workforce. We need a million electricians by the early 2030s. And that's just electricians!

These are no small tasks. But with strong [trans]atlantic partnerships like P-TECC, with continued private-public sector cooperation, I'm confident we can get the job done.

I'm so happy about what we are announcing here, with respect to the commitments we're making on nuclear energy, on geothermal. And the fact that we-together, as we're here-can learn from one another.

I'm so pleased that we've welcomed Iceland as a P-TECC ally to help us advance geothermal development across the region. Minister Thordarson, who is here with us today.

Through these working groups, I know we're making strides on everything from workforce development to clean energy deployment.

Together, we are building a new clean economy on our terms.

We're fighting, not just for each of our countries, but for all of humanity.

Because that mother trapped by floods in Slovakia is my sister too. The family who lost their home is my family too. The child suffering from heat exhaustion is my child too-and yours. My two beloved grandchildren, Dylan and Lily, they are your grandchildren and your children too.

This crisis knows no borders. It bows to no kings. And every strike will be more deadly than the last.

I'm reminded me of an old proverb from Tribal communities in the United States, which is: "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children."

Today, as we chart our path forward for a clean energy future, we decide what kind of world we will give back to Dylan, and Lily, and your children and your grandchildren.

We cannot afford to choose wrong.

Thank you.