Erik Solheim calls on Sri Lanka to join the green revolution
Former Norwegian peace envoy and advisor to President Ranil Wickremesinghe on climate change, Erik Solheim, called on Sri Lanka to join the green revolution.
He said this while speaking at the Sri Lanka Clean Energy Summit 2023 held at Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo.
Solheim said that the two biggest developing countries, China and India, are now the two leaders of the green revolution and Sri Lanka has enormous opportunity to move towards a green economy.
“I’ve been associating with Sri Lanka since 1998 when then President Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga asked me to be involved in the peace process here. And I’m more aware than most, that Sri Lanka has been through years of pain of war and economic crisis. But the people of Sri Lanka have also shown an enormous resilience through this crisis,” he added.
Solheim said that there will be many difficulties in the future but there is a platform for Sri Lanka to put the worst of the economic crisis behind itself and move forward and look into the future.
“Sri Lanka, has a fantastic potential for renewable, for wind power at land and sea. The very shallow shelf between India and Sri Lanka is very well suited for offshore wind. That’s a good potential for solar as are many rivers. It can bring storage and it can be a habitat for green hydrogen,” he said.
He noted that 82% of all solar panels in the world last year were made in China, 70% of all electric batteries last year remained in China, and 80% of all new hydropower in the world last year came in China.
Solheim also said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is launching green initiatives.
“And why are China and India doing this? It is because it’s good for the environment, good for people’s health, and also good for the economy. They believe they can capture markets. And Sri Lanka, with such a good relationship with China, but so close to India, has enormous opportunity to tap into this,” he said.
Solheim said that the vision of President Ranil Wickremesinghe is to take Sri Lanka out of the crisis, but in a green space. (Colombo Gazette)
