Prague, Feb. 16, 2021 (Lusa) - Portugal's minister of environment and climate action said on Tuesday that the European Union (EU) has a "key role" to play in financial support for countries economically dependent on natural resources to achieve energy transition.

João Pedro Matos Fernandes, who was speaking in a video conference on climate challenges and the post-pandemic industrial and energy transition, said that the EU, along with the United States, has a "key role" in helping countries "whose economies depend heavily on oil and gas" and that do not have the money to make the necessary changes in energy security.

Using Nigeria and Angola as examples, the minister said it was "very obvious" that these countries needed financial support to become able to reuse natural resources and achieve carbon neutrality, as this was "a problem that no country, large or small, can solve alone.

Recalling that the secretary-general of the United Nations, António Guterres, has called on countries not to subsidise projects that use fossil fuels, he said that, in Europe, "the best way to be fair is to rely on natural sources and not on oil or gas".

Therefore, he believed that "with political commitment, investing in renewable sources is creating new jobs and more qualified jobs".

As for Portugal, a country "without oil or gas", Matos Fernandes pointed out that to "have a system of greater resilience around energy security", we need to "use our own natural resources".

"To have a totally secure system when we talk about energy is to have 100% of electricity coming from wind, sun and water," he pointed out, highlighting hydrogen as a "key" element in replacing natural gas with renewable resources, particularly in the chemical industry.

The minister stressed that the idea of sustainability and economy being two separate areas is "false".

Of the "three" socio-economic scenarios studied for meeting the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, Matos Fernandes said that "the best scenario is the one that guarantees the economy grows more.

Matos Fernandes was speaking at a conference on the transformations and impacts of the European Gren Deal, organised by the Portuguese embassy in Prague, as part of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU, in partnership with the representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic and the Institute of International Relations, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Commission and the European Policy Institute EUROPEUM.

JAYG/ADB // ADB.

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