29 January 2019 - 30 January 2019
Amman, Jordan

Middle East and North African Sustainable Electricity Pathways: Expert-guided compromise across multiple competing objectives

Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries have to address the increasing demand for energy, whilst simultaneously tackling the challenges of socio-economic development, climate change and political transformation. An important prerequisite for overcoming these challenges is the deployment of new electricity infrastructures.

© Valeriia Sychova | Dreamstime.com

© Valeriia Sychova | Dreamstime.com

In this regard, most MENA countries stand at a crossroads for new electricity policies: although the scale-up of renewable energies is currently receiving policy support, fossil (coal, gas and oil) and nuclear power remain two prominent alternatives in the region’s national development plans. Despite numerous studies, there is a high uncertainty as for how investments into different electricity development pathways will interact with social, economic, political and environmental dimensions at multiple scales.

IIASA in cooperation with the University of Jordan, as well as with contributions from the University of Stockholm, the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), Deutsche Gesellschaft for Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Germanwatch, the University of Flensburg, the Wuppertal Institute, Preference, Rational Decisions for a Sustainable Society, and MENARES is organizing a regional conference in Jordan on 29-30 January 2019 aimed at discussing the results of the MENA - Select project, those main goal was to contribute to the understanding of the complex relationships between different electricity pathways and sustainable development in three selected MENA countries: Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia. 

The conference will bring together European, Tunisian, Moroccan and national representatives from academia, industry, civil society, public authorities, and research centers. An opening speech will be given by H.E. Eng. Hala Zawati, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan.  

Among the participants are H.E. Eng. Ali Subah, Secretary General of the Ministry Water and Irrigation, H.E Eng. Wejdan Al-Rabadi, Commissioner from the Energy & Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC), H.E. Dr. Rida Al-Khawaldeh, Member of the Jordanian Senate, H.E. Malek Kabariti, Former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan, Dr. Rasmi Hamzeh, Executive Director of the Jordan Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Fund, Mr. Mustafa Al Khatibi, Director of Electricity Department, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan, Mr. Zeyad Alsaaydeh, Director of Rural Electrification Department, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan and others.  

Representatives of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Germany) are also participating. 

Dr. Nadejda Komendantova from IIASA will be giving a keynote presentation based on results of the MENA - Select project about human factors of energy transition such as social and public acceptance, willingness to use different technologies and participate in energy transition as well as differences in world views and risks perceptions across various stakeholders groups.


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Last edited: 12 February 2019

CONTACT DETAILS

Nadejda Komendantova

Research Group Leader and Senior Research Scholar Cooperation and Transformative Governance Research Group - Advancing Systems Analysis Program

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International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
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