07/10/2020
On 6 October 2020, the Energy Charter Secretariat launched the Energy Investment Risk Assessment 2020 ( ), the third edition of its flagship publication. The publication was launched virtually through Zoom. The event was opened by Mr Samir Valiyev, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Vice-Chair of the Energy Charter Conference for 2020
EIRA assesses risks to energy investment that can be mitigated by adjusting legal and regulatory frameworks. The publication benchmarks the performance of countries against international best practices and guides them on improving the investment climate. It highlights the key strengths and areas for improvement in each country, gives recommendations to improve results, and assists policymakers in designing risk mitigation plans.
Thirty countries spanning Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, including 4 new entrants, participated in the 2020 edition of the report. can be utilised by policymakers in participating countries to identify policy, legal and regulatory gaps and in planning specific actions to attract sustainable investment in the energy sector. The publication can also assist the energy industry, investor and financial institutions in their assessments and understanding of the investment climate in the participating countries.
A new chapter on monitoring the implementation status of the improvements suggested in previous editions has been introduced in . This chapter allows the recurring participants to analyse progress made as a result of specific actions and reforms undertaken by the relevant governments. Starting this year, the country profiles will also include new information from Orbis Crossborder Investment on energy projects and deals completed between 2015-2020 in the participating countries.
A specific website dedicated to EIRA has been launched since 2019. It is intended to offer extensive and updated data on the evolving regulatory regimes of the participating countries. It projects the year-on-year trajectory of the country on different EIRA parameters, provides detailed information for each question on the EIRA questionnaire and includes an online library of over 1,500 primary legal documents.
was launched with the participation of high-level representatives of governments, diplomatic missions, international organisations, financial institutions, industry, professional associations and mass media.
In his opening remarks, Mr Samir Valiyev emphasised that despite having such a challenging year, the delegations and the Energy Charter Secretariat have been able to mobilise the resources and organise the activities as planned. He pointed out that the unified efforts of the governments, the external parties and the staff of the Energy Charter Secretariat contributed to the completion of this valuable product.
During the launch event, Energy Charter Secretariat Secretary-General Ambassador Dr Urban Rusnák presented the publication. In his intervention, he stated that the main objective of the report remains tracking the progress of countries in mitigating investment risks in the energy sector.
Mr Ilir Bejtja, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Energy of Albania, highlighted his Government’s commitment and support to the EIRA project and expressed his hope that more Members of the Energy Charter Conference will participate in it.
Prof. Eli Jidere Bala, Director General/CEO, Energy Commission of Nigeria underlined the important role of the International Energy Charter in strengthening and promoting the mutually beneficial cooperation among nations for the sake of energy security and sustainability.
Mrs Martina Macpherson, Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Engagement at
Moody’s presented a vision on an evaluation of systemic ESG risks and opportunities and their implications for a just transition.
Mr Claas Hülsen, Business Development Director Advisory Region CEMED at DNV GL Energy Advisory GmbH has expressed an opinion that the year 2020 marks the beginning of a decade of fundamental changes which will have considerable impacts both on global and local energy systems and EIRA provides a valuable analysis which can be utilised for a smoother adaption to these changes.
Mr Henning Häder, Policy Director, Eurelectric focused his intervention on opportunities and challenges for investments aimed at decarbonisation of the power sector in Europe.
Mr David J. Bertoch, Executive Counsel, ExxonMobil Corporation spoke to how the EIRA publication and the analyses of the investment risks in the energy sector align with ExxonMobil’s 5 main upstream investment principles that guide investment decisions.
Mr Iván Pineda, Director of Public Affairs, WindEurope welcomed the EIRA 2020 publication and mentioned that its assessments of the investment environment is important for the wind energy sub-sector, which can have a key role in decorbonising the energy supply, fostering economic development and in improving energy security and environmental protection.
The Energy Charter Secretariat is thankful to all participants of the launch and to the more than 215 contributors that provided their invaluable inputs during the development of the publication.
Energy Investment Risk Assessment
