Posted on 03 May 2011
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) is expected to launch an extensive
and long-awaited report on renewable energy
May 9 in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.
The 900-page Special
Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate
Change Mitigation is significant because
it compares 164 scenarios on renewable energy
and is the most comprehensive analysis ever
of trends and perspectives for renewable
energy.
Preceding the launch,
from 5 to 8 May, more than 100 governments
will negotiate the Summary for Policy Makers.
The report comes after
the launch earlier this year of WWF's vision
for achieving a 100% renewable energy future
by 2050, the most ambitious scenario of
any published so far. This vision – The
Energy Report – is based on a detailed scenario
by energy consultancy Ecofys and shows the
opportunities but also the challenges of
such a development based on existing technologies.
The Energy Report unfortunately
came too late to be considered by IPCC authors
for inclusion in the IPCC analysis.
Although unique in its
epic scope, the IPCC therefore underestimates
the potential of deploying renewable energy
even faster, especially when combined with
top level energy efficiency, WWF said.
“IPCC delivers a landmark
report that shows the rapid growth potential
for renewable energy – but unfortunately
does not endorse a 100% renewable energy
pathway until 2050,” said Stephan Singer,
Director for Global Energy Policy at WWF
International.
“WWF’s report adds that
missing piece – a bold vision with a clear
timeline. We need to be fast if we want
to tackle pressing issues as varied as energy
security and efficiency, and at the same
time keep climate change below the danger
threshold."
The 164 scenarios compared
in the IPCC report show that renewable energy
is projected to remain the fastest growing
energy source. Renewables beat fossils in
global and regional availability; most of
them will also see substantive cost reductions
in the next decades, particularly solar
energy.
“There are no real alternatives
to energy efficiency and renewables,” said
Singer. “As oil and gas within easy reach
are dwindling, the world needs to move to
clean and sustainable sources of energy
and avoid any investment into dirty alternatives.”
WWF agrees with the
IPCC that the recent large growth in clean
energy investments and the simultaneous
cost reductions in wind and solar energy
provide a strong start for renewable energy
expansion.
“If we want to bring
renewables out of the niche and substitute
fossil and nuclear fuels, we need to see
substantive policy change and financial
support in all regions of the world,” said
Singer. “IPCC has done a great job in identifying
both – the big challenges and the even larger
opportunities and benefits of renewable
energy for all nations.”
It is no coincidence
that the IPCC report on renewable energy
is being launched in the UAE, the country
with the sixth and seventh largest proven
reserves of oil and gas respectively.
“The UAE has started
to make laudable efforts to diversify its
energy mix and is fast becoming a leading
country in clean energy development”, says
Tanzeed Alam, Policy Director of Emirates
Wildlife Society in association with WWF(EWS-WWF).
“Our studies for the UAE Ecological Footprint
Initiative show that by 2030 Abu Dhabi could
reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 40%
powered by a rapidly growing renewable energy
sector that surpasses current targets.”
+ More
Groundbreaking report
underscores advantages of renewable energy
future
Posted on 09 May 2011
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – A major
new report by the United Nations-supported
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) launched today underscores the incredible
environmental and social advantages of a
future powered by renewable energy over
the next decades, WWF said.
The 900-page Special
Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate
Change Mitigation compares 164 scenarios
on renewable energy and is the most comprehensive
analysis ever of trends and perspectives
for renewable energy.
“The IPCC and governments
of the world signal loud and clear: fossil
fuels and nuclear are no real alternatives
to renewables,” said Dr Stephan Singer,
Director for Global Energy Policy for WWF
International.
“As oil and gas within
easy reach is dwindling, the world needs
to move to clean and sustainable sources
of energy and avoid any investment into
dirty alternatives.”
Although unique in its
epic scope, the IPCC underestimates the
potential of deploying renewable energy
even faster, especially when combined with
top level energy efficiency, WWF said. The
organisation’s own analysis, called The
Energy Report, shows a pathway to a 100%
renewable energy future by 2050. This analysis
is the first that also indicates the challenges
and research needs to make sure this low
carbon development respects development
needs of up to 9 billion people.
“IPCC delivers a landmark
report that shows the rapid growth, low-cost
potential for renewable energy – but unfortunately
does not endorse a 100% renewable energy
pathway until 2050,” said Singer.
“WWF’s report adds that
missing piece – a bold vision with a clear
timeline. We need to be fast if we want
to tackle pressing issues as varied as energy
security and efficiency, and at the same
time keep climate change well below the
danger threshold of 2 degree global warming.
WWF strongly emphasizes
that in addition to the climate benefits,
the IPCC report documents the plethora of
other advantages clean renewables provide
including health and security of supply
benefits, new job and technology opportunities
for all countries and the potential to provide
clean and affordable energy to the more
than two billion people in parts of the
developing world which either have no or
only erratic access.
Meanwhile, more than
four days of negotiations that preceded
the report’s launch this week in Abu Dhabi
produced a Summary for Policy Makers, agreed
to by more than 100 governments present
in the early hours of Monday 9 May.
“Unfortunately, the
Summary for Policy Makers is only a feeble
outline and does not in the least match
the high quality of the full report,” said
Singer. “One needs to turn to the full report
to understand the massive job the IPCC has
managed to achieve.”
The Summary for Policy
Makers which has now been approved by the
world’s governments, becomes an accepted
basis for planning energy policies, investment
and infrastructure for national and regional
governments as well as for U.N. agencies
and international organisations such as
the World Bank.
