First Renewable Energy Governance Index in Lebanon
The Lebanese Enterprise Incubator Initiative (LOGI), in partnership with the International Lebanon Association - No Corruption, launched the first energy index in Lebanon, during a conference at the Radisson Blu Martinez Hotel in Beirut, under the title: "Lebanon's Energy Contribution Index: The First Step Towards Budgeting and Accountability." The conference was attended by political actors, socio-economic figures, energy sector experts, journalists, and civil society representatives. The goal of the initiative was to clearly distinguish the third-party energy sector by liberalizing regulatory licenses, exposing shortcomings and rewards, identifying responsibilities, and innovating for reform, management, and sustainability.
Mustafa Raad started the press conference with a speech in which he stressed the importance of the initiative in light of the major transformations taking place in Lebanon in the field of energy. Mohammed Al-Maghabit, Director of ski Consulting and Studies, opened the first session entitled "Identifying the Renewable Energy Governance Index", where he presented the results of the index and the most prominent conclusions related to legislation, governance mechanisms, and opportunities for developing the sector commensurate with the next phase.
The second session, entitled “Strengthening Governance and Accountability in the Energy Sector in Lebanon”, was moderated by Diana Al-Qaisi, Advisory Board Member of the Initiative. MP Ibrahim Mneimneh, lawyer Christina Abi Haidar, and Transparency International Lebanon Executive Director Julian Corson participated.
Mneimneh stressed the importance of the Transparency Law in the energy sector and its role in regulating the legal framework of the sector, stressing the role of the index as a tool to dive into additional details related to transparency and public-private partnership.
In turn, Abi Haidar focused on activating the laws instead of leaving them in the drawers, stressing the need to implement the distributed renewable energy law issued in 2023, and called for benefiting from renewable energy at the level of individuals and homes, while using the smart meter as a supporting technical tool.
Corson stressed that transparency is the cornerstone of reforms, calling on the Lebanese government to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), and considered the index an important tool for the state, the media, and regulators to guide policies and monitor performance.
Conference Bottom Line
Speakers agreed that strengthening governance, transparency, and accountability in the energy sector is an essential input to any effective reform, with a focus on enforcing laws, engaging civil society, and fostering public-private partnerships.
The initiative pointed out that the conference showed the importance of the renewable energy governance index as a tool to assess performance and enhance control, in addition to the role of renewable energy as a future strategic axis, and the need to accelerate investment in it and provide a supportive legal and technical environment. This activity comes within the sub-funding of the "Binaa" project funded by the European Union, and managed by the secretariat of Transparency International in cooperation with Transparency International Lebanon – No Corruption.