A wide range of issues related to the policy enabling environment, favorable financial instruments, and technological advancement necessary to boost the development of the “new energy” sector of Armenia were discussed during the seminar with the participation of state agencies, the private sector, and independent experts organized by UNDP Armenia. The purpose of the event was to discuss public-private partnership opportunities and identify bottlenecks of the private sector engagement in the implementation of the country’s climate agenda and specifically the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Partnership Plan.

Ms. Anna Mazmanyan, Deputy Minister of Environment, in her opening remarks has mentioned that “This is a very important initiative to engage representatives of the sector, which solely contributes to around 70% of Armenia’s total greenhouse gas emissions, into the discussions aimed at identification of policy levers and other support from the Government and international development partners”.

“We launch this series of events to ensure the participation of the private sector in the policy design process that will be structured around the needs of the “new energy” sector. It is well understood that your active participation is also important from the perspective of mobilization of the private capital into the implementation of climate-resilient investment projects”, said Ms. Diana Harutyunyan, Climate Change Programme Coordinator at UNDP Armenia.

Representatives of the companies implementing solar projects specifically underlined the importance of energy storage facilities for the application of the sustainable energy system, energy tariff policy reforms for renewables, and long-term perspectives for promoting autonomous energy producers as key prerequisites for ensuring sustainable growth of the energy sector.

The series of the seminars will be continued with 5 more roundtables with consulting companies, business associations, representatives of the banking sector, and international development partners.

 “The role of the private sector in the implementation of Armenia’s NDC Partnership Plan” seminars are supported by UNDP Armenia and implemented by “Alfa Partners” LLC,  a boutique consulting company specialized in the provision of advice in implementing climate finance projects.  The NDC Partnership Plan serves as a basis for the coordination of the NDC implementation at the country level and through the engagement of international implementing partners assists Armenia to achieve its NDC goals.