World’s energy ministers to convene in Pittsburgh next year

The city of Pittsburgh, Pa., is set to host energy ministers from around the world in 2022 for the Clean Energy Ministerial and the ministerial for Mission Innovation.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said in a statement Thursday that 31 nations, together responsible for most of the world’s greenhouse gas production, will participate in the three-day event next September.

The DOE helped create CEM in 2010 as a way to gather the world’s major economies so they could collaborate on accelerating clean energy adoptions by enabling policy framework, according to the statement. 

The Mission Innovation (MI), which was announced in 2015 alongside the Paris Agreement, communes global leaders in an effort to promote the “production of widely affordable clean energy through ‘research missions’ to limit the increase of global temperatures to 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels,” per the statement.

“The U.S. is proud to host the 2022 Clean Energy Ministerial and ministerial for Mission Innovation in the Steel City of Pittsburgh, PA, a town that exemplifies how a legacy energy and industrial-dependent economy can be transformed into a technology and innovation powerhouse,” the statement quoted Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

“The joint CEM/MI ministerial meetings represent an opportunity to lock in climate commitments through big bets on innovation that empower an energy transition by 2050 — averting the worst effects of climate change and supercharging economic opportunities for the global workforce,” Granholm continued. 

This announcement comes as Pittsburgh has become a major producer of natural gas, robotics, energy research, and self-driving cars, according to the Associated Press. 

“Pittsburgh is the city that built America. Rooted proudly in our tradition of hard work and innovation, we are pleased to be chosen to host the 2022 CEM MI that will bring leaders from around the world together to share ideas about turning our industrial regions into regions of opportunity,” Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto (D) said, per the statement.

“Through partnerships with regional leaders in the Marshall Plan for Middle America, we recognize that our economies in Upper Appalachia cannot depend on fossil fuels,” Peduto said. “That is why Pittsburgh already has the infrastructure in the companies, workforce, and research and development to lead the future of sustainable energy rather than getting left behind.”