First Preparatory Meeting of the 2017 Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) Ministerial

First Preparatory Meeting of the 2017 Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) Ministerial

Background:

The first Energy and Climate Ministerial of the Americas was held in Washington, DC, USA in April 2010. This two-day gathering of energy ministers from countries of the Americas is a key component of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA), announced by President Obama during the Fifth Summit of the Americas held Trinidad and Tobago in 2009.

Merida, Mexico hosted the second ministerial meeting, which took place on May 2015. This event brought together energy ministers and other national authorities who jointly agreed to design a more dynamic work plan with concrete actions to help boost Western Hemisphere’s leadership on energy and climate change issues. This meeting set the basis for a four-year work plan and the establishment of a Steering Committee as the governance structure for the Alliance.

These preparatory meetings have also laid the groundwork for an Action Plan for ECPA, which would define the next steps forward on the region’s energy and climate change agenda.

Preparatory process:

Looking ahead to a third ministerial-level meeting, two regional preparatory meetings will be held prior to the Ministerial gathering in Chile on 2017.

The background offered by the II Ministerial Meeting convened in Mexico serves as a basis to host the preparatory meetings. Each meeting will address specific energy and climate subjects and assess project progress to formulate common positions on topics of interest with a view to define a more solid structure for the Alliance. These meetings will also serve to evaluate progress on projects and initiatives and discuss how this hemisphere-wide effort could be strengthened.

Objective:

To initiate the preparatory process towards the Third Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) ministerial meeting, geared toward transforming the energy of the Americas.

This meeting will be held in the fringes of the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum-CREF