DEC 12, 2019
Paul Brown / Climate
News Network
Often blamed for society’s
problems, politicians have now been brought to book for the slow take-up of
renewable forms of energy.
These are now so cheap that
installation worldwide is happening faster than governments have allowed for in
their national plans for action, according to the International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
This shows, IRENA says, that
it is politicians, many of whose election campaigns are still financed and
overly influenced by the fossil fuel lobby, that are the barrier to tackling
climate change, rather than any lack of available technology.
A report by
IRENA, using calculations made by Carbon Action Tracker, says that
as a result the so-called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that each
government is supposed to produce to show how they will cut greenhouse gas
emissions under the Paris Agreement of 2015 are woefully inadequate.
Even if implemented in full,
they would still allow the world to warm by 2.6°C, 70% more than the 1.5°C
regarded as desirable by the
Agreement, and well above the agreed danger level of 2°C. As it is,
governments are not even reaching their declared NDC targets.
A “profound transformation” is
required, the report says. Higher renewable energy deployment amounting to 7.7
TW, or 3.3 times the current global capacity, could be achieved
cost-effectively, and would bring considerable social and economic benefits.
“Given the competitiveness of
technologies and the multiple benefits they bring the economy (e.g., job
creation) renewables are a readily-available and cost-effective option to raise
NDC ambitions today.”
“By adopting targets to
transform the global energy system, policymakers could finally begin to turn
the tide against global warming.”
The national plans that
governments have produced to try to stem climate change currently allow for
only a 4% annual growth in wind and solar power between 2015 and 2030 – even
though annual renewable power growth averaged 5.8% between 2010 and 2014.
With current growth, the
targets governments had set for 2030 would be met by 2022. According to the
agency’s calculations, the progress made already means there could be 3.3 times
as much global capacity installed by 2030.
Political Refusal
The report, released
during the current UN climate talks in
Spain, is designed to show that combatting the climate emergency by using
renewables to electrify the power system is well within the grasp of
governments − if only politicians were prepared to endorse the idea.
The issue becomes critical
next year at the climate summit due to be held in Glasgow, in the UK, when
governments are due to ratchet up their commitments to tackle the climate
crisis. The report notes that, despite the lack of government support, many
financial institutions are already moving towards investment in renewables and
climate-resilient investments.
However, this on its own will
not achieve the estimated US$110 trillion dollars that need to be invested in
the energy sector by 2050. There have to be positive policies from governments
to switch from fossil fuels – what the report calls addressing “economic and
social misalignments.”
At the moment the report notes
it is not reluctance on the part of wider society that is preventing this
change, merely the lack of action by politicians. For example, executives who
run companies are driving the renewable energy build-up by buying renewables
for their businesses.
In 75 countries, with 2,400
businesses, surveyed for the report, more than half said they actively looked
for renewable energies to power their activities. These decisions were driven
by the environmental and social benefits that renewables brought.
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