More than 19 energy ministers and high-level political representatives from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East are to attend Gastech 2022.
Ministerial discussions will cover themes including a just energy transition for developing nations, the role of gas as a key transition fuel, and global energy security imperatives.
Hosted under the patronage of the Italian ministry of foreign affairs and ministry of the environment, Gastech is the world’s largest integrated conference and exhibition supporting the global natural gas, LNG, hydrogen, and low-carbon solutions industries.
Addressing specific obstacles and challenges for policymakers in a transformed energy landscape, the array of ministers at Gastech will be joined by over 4,000 delegates, including CEOs, policymakers, and innovators from across the gas value chain.
India, Nigeria, Egypt, and Indonesia are among the major emerging market nations with ministerial representation at the event, which runs across four days in Milan in September.
Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s minister of petroleum and natural gas, and Tarek El Molla, Egypt’s minister of petroleum and mineral resources will participate in a panel discussion at the conference’s opening ceremony on the role of natural gas as a key bridging fuel in a broader energy mix.
Occurring just ahead of COP27 in Egypt, Gastech will be a vital platform for the industry and key ministers to help set the global net zero agenda, enabling energy leaders to highlight the central role of natural gas, LNG, hydrogen, and low-carbon solutions in achieving a ‘just’ energy transition. Ministers from Ghana, Zimbabwe, Djibouti, and the Kyrgyz Republic will examine the gas sector’s role in achieving sustainable growth and a cleaner, more accessible future energy mix in the developing world.
With Europe facing major gas shortfalls this winter, ministerial panels will also examine how the continent can tackle the critical challenges of decarbonisation and energy security. Alexandra Sdoukou, Greece’s secretary general for energy and mineral resources, and Osama Mobarez, secretary general of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) will explore how gas reserves in the East Mediterranean could unlock increased gas supplies for the continent and accelerate the transition to a lower-carbon energy mix.
In a panel aimed at defining a collaborative policy blueprint to enable a decarbonised, secure, and inclusive global energy system, ministers from Turkey, Indonesia and Iraq will deliver their insights into the key challenges.
Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Sigmar Gabriel, former German foreign minister, will also deliver keynote addresses to the conference on the global energy transition and geopolitical trends reshaping the energy landscape.
Christiana Figueres said: “The challenge for governments and the energy sector is to develop a basket of clean, universally accessible, dependable energy – and that basket has to urgently decrease carbon emissions. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the industry to play an outsized role in powering economic development in both the global north and the global south. At Gastech, I’m excited to see energy companies work with governments and international stakeholders to deploy their unparalleled innovation capacity in support of accelerating the energy transition.”
For more information visit www.gastechevent.com
