New Delhi, Sep 18: After G20 leaders pledged to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, an open letter was published on Monday on the occasion of the UN General Assembly and New York Climate Week by the Global Renewable Alliance, a group of 200 climate and energy organizations, calling for a target to triple renewable energy capacity.
“We, a global group of 200 organisations, emphatically call for world leaders and Parties to the Paris Agreement to agree on a global target to triple renewable energy capacity to at least 11,000 GW by 2030 at COP28 this year,” said the letter. The signatories include clean energy partners and private sector organisations like Amazon, Vestas, Huawei and EY. “We underscore that a step change this decade in renewable energy growth, combined with an increase in energy efficiency, will be the fastest and most cost efficient way to decarbonise the global economy.
“It is one of the most impactful commitments that the global community can undertake now to secure a liveable future for all.
“A global target to 2030 sends a clear signal to governments, industry, investors and civil society on the unprecedented scale and speed of renewables deployment required over the next seven years to limit global warming to a 1.5C pathway.
“It also builds upon the recognition of the urgency to rapidly transform energy systems in this critical decade of action, secured at COP27 last year.
“The COP28 Presidency, policymakers and heads of international energy agencies are already convening around a shared target to triple global renewable energy capacity to at least 11,000 GW by 2030. That means accelerating build-out of wind power, solar power, hydropower and geothermal power, which would set the stage for technologies like long-duration storage and green hydrogen to take off.
“This would ensure energy systems are not only clean, but secure and just, and in turn, form the foundation of a net zero global energy system by 2050.
“Renewable energy is already transforming communities around the world: powering homes, cars and factories with clean electricity; generating millions of green jobs; and attracting public and private capital to propel economic growth. Tripling this activity represents an enormous opportunity to reduce the loss and damage for nature and people wrought by harmful climate change, and set the world on a path to sustainable, inclusive and climate-resilient growth.”
Responding to the letter, Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency, said: “IRENA supports the call for a global renewable target at COP28.
“I am pleased to see that our data builds the ground for the global campaign by the Global Renewable Alliance. IRENA’s World Energy Transitions Outlook calls for an immediate course-correction for a 1.5C climate pathway, enabled by the tripling of renewable energy capacity by 2030 to at least 11,000 GW globally.
“The business case for renewables has never been stronger. But we must urgently overcome the systemic barriers across infrastructure, policy, and institutional capabilities in the coming years and build a new energy system that is run on renewables.”
Subsidies to renewable energy fell. (IANS)
