CEET in Vienna: Action on Energy and Climate

On April 9 and 10, 2026, policymakers, engineers, financiers, and development practitioners gathered for this year’s International Vienna Energy and Climate Forum (IVECF), held at the historic Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. The forum underscored the importance of aligning political ambition and practical solutions with prosperity, security, and stability to catalyze the progress needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aimed at transitioning conversations from commitments to action.

Members of the Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET) were actively engaged throughout the forum, contributing to key sessions, launching policy recommendations, and supporting new initiatives. Ahead of the event, the CEET hosted Council members and key partners at the UNIDO Headquarters for an internal meeting exploring strategic priorities for the year ahead, including deepening the CEET's impact across the UN system and expanding regional collaboration in ASEAN and Central Africa.

Launch of the CEET Policy Brief on Clean Economic Corridors in Africa

During IVECF, the CEET launched the policy brief, Clean Economic Corridors in Africa: Integrating Energy, Industry, and Transport for Low Carbon Growth. As Africa accelerates its development trajectory, economic corridors are emerging as powerful engines of transformation. Their greatest impact will be realized when they are designed as integrated systems that link energy, industry, and transport to support higher-value, sustainable growth.

As the brief highlights, “decarbonization is a source of strategic opportunity for long-term economic development across Africa. Aligning transport, infrastructure, and industrial corridors with climate and energy transition goals can strengthen competitiveness and resilience, while improving access to international finance.”

Global Green Industrialization and Partnership through Capacity Building

9 April 2026 – On the first day of IVECF, CEET member Professor Semida Silveira opened the afternoon plenary during the session, "From Commitment to Action: Global Green Industrialization as a Pillar of Prosperity for All." Her remarks centered on the gap between pledges and implementation, emphasizing the need for policy coherence across institutions, locally rooted ecosystems and capacities, and stronger regional partnerships to drive progress.

CEET member Selen İnal also contributed to the roundtable, "Leading by Doing: Middle-Income Countries as Engines of Green Industrial Transformation," offering a reframe on innovation. She underscored that it is not only about new technologies, but about building the institutions, business models, and financing structures that allow solutions to scale. The strongest models integrate green, digital, and social outcomes from the outset.

Additionally, members of the CEET participated in UNIDO’s Matchmaking Programme within the Innovation, Technology, and R&D Cluster to exchange insights on collaboration opportunities and project development in support of the energy transition.

Meanwhile, the SDSN Secretariat joined the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Committee on Capacity-building (PCCB), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations University (UNU), and Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) in launching the Global Action Initiative on International Cooperation for Capacity Building in the Energy Transition. The initiative aims to build a more coordinated global capacity-building system by strengthening cooperation mechanisms, expanding training platforms for energy professionals worldwide, and prioritizing youth and women in transition programmes.

Scaling Finance, Green Innovation, and CEET Impact

10 April 2026 – On the second day of IVECF, SDSN President Professor Jeffrey Sachs joined the plenary session on “Just Energy Transition for Structural Transformation and Economic Diversification.” During the session, Prof. Sachs outlined three imperatives for Central Africa's energy future: (1) reform of the credit rating and finance systems that systematically overestimate African sovereign risk; (2) regional cooperation to unlock transformative projects like Grand Inga, with a potential capacity of up to 70 gigawatts; and (3) a just transition defined on African terms, ensuring that African countries can move up global value chains and benefit from their own natural resources.

CEET member Ulf Larsson also joined a high-level roundtable on "Beyond Borders: Regional Value Chains and Green Industrial Corridors," alongside ministers, multilateral institutions, and corridor agencies, including representatives from Zimbabwe, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Austria, as well as UNIDO, the African Development Bank, Afreximbank, ECREEE, and the Lobito Corridor Transit Facilitation Agency.

Drawing on the CEET's recently launched policy brief on Africa’s Economic Corridors, his remarks focused on three features essential to turning regional corridors into engines of green industrialization: (1) a systems approach integrating energy, transport, and industry planning; (2) robust institutions and governance to attract capital and enable technology transfer; and (3) deliberate skills development and benefit-sharing to ensure that jobs, revenues, and knowledge remain in the regions that need them most.

The week concluded with a strategic CEET dialogue, bringing together representatives from the co-chair organizations, UNIDO and the SDSN, as well as Council members and Steering Committee representatives from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL).

The discussion benefited from the leadership insights and support of Prof. Sachs; Mr. Ciyong Zou, Managing Director and Deputy to the Director General of UNIDO; Ms. Rana Ghoneim, Director, Energy and Climate Action Division of UNIDO; and Ms. Georgia Iordanescu, Chief, Sustainable Energy and Just Transitions Unit of UNIDO.

Focusing on priorities for the remainder of the year and on strengthening the CEET’s support to the UN system, their contributions underscored both the urgency of accelerating the energy transition and the importance of coordinated, systems-focused approaches. Key themes included the importance of regional and context-specific solutions and the need to translate high-level recommendations into action and implementation.

Learn more about the CEET here.