Renewable Energy Keeps Growing: Earth Summit in Rio provides an opportunity for more action

by Jake Schmidt

Earth Summit 2012

Several new reports released over the past few days show that renewable energy keeps growing, with more countries implementing policies or incentives to spur renewable energy deployment. The studies found that renewable energy accounted for $211 billion in new investments in 2010 – an increase of 32% from the previous year. Next year at the Earth Summit in Rio, countries and companies have a chance to build upon this momentum by committing to deeper actions to spur renewable energy deployment within their country and company. This is an important opportunity that shouldn’t be missed.

So what are the key findings of these new reports (one from the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century –REN21—and the other from the UN Environment Program –UNEP)?

Renewable investments are a very large sector that is growing rapidly. If it were a country, the total value of new renewable energy investments in 2010 would make it

the 42nd largest economy in the world.* According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data, total new investments in renewable energy amounted to $211 billion in 2010 – a 32% increase from the previous year. The value of renewable investments has been growing significantly from 2004 when data was first collected (see figure). New renewable investments have achieved a staggering 539% increase since 2004. That increase would compare very favorably to any economic sector in the world.

More countries are taking action at home to spur renewable energy deployment. At least 119 countries had some type of national policy target or renewable support policy. The number of countries with such policies more than doubled since 2005. As a result, commercial wind power exists in 83 countries – whereas just a handful had wind in the 1990s. In 2010, solar PV capacity was added in more than 100 countries. This shows that wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources aren’t some mythical source of energy that only a small number of countries can tap into.

Non-fossil energy* accounted for almost 50% of the new electricity capacity added in 2010. Wind, solar, and geothermal accounted for about 30% of the estimated new electricity capacity brought on line in 2010. If you include hydropower and biomass power then the share of non-fossil fuel power capacity was around 50% of the total new

 installed capacity in 2010 (see table). While sources of electricity that contribute to global warming are still too large, this data shows that more countries are investing in renewable energy as they look to meet their growing energy needs.

Major growth is occurring in the developing world, especially China and India. In 2010, developing countries overtook developed countries in terms of new financial investments in renewable energy (see figure). China led the pack with $49 billion in new investments – a 28% increase from the previous year. The U.S. was second with $25 billion. Major developing countries have seen significant annual growth rates for the period 2004-2010: Brazil (62%), China (80%), India (19%), and Africa region (51%). 

Similar trends are seen for important renewable technologies. In 2010, China installed the most wind and solar thermal energy of any country. India is currently fifth worldwide in total installed wind capacity. In fact, 5 of the 10 largest wind turbine manufacturers in the world were companies founded in China and India. Similarly, 9 out of the top 15 solar PV manufacturers were either from China or Taiwan (see REN21).

Earth Summit in Rio next year provides a huge opportunity for countries and companies to go even further in speeding up the deployment of renewable energy. As world leader, CEOs, governors, and mayors show up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next year for the Earth Summit they’ll need to come prepared to show how they are going to take the next step. What kinds of new policies will they implement to help renewable energy? What new steps will the company take to help spur this development? Will they make new commitments to increase renewable energy deployment?

We hope that they take advantage of this opportunity and build upon this increasing renewable energy deployment. This staggering growth should only be the beginning of a move to clean renewable energy in meeting the world’s energy needs.

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* New renewable energy investments are just behind the GDP of Israel and are larger than the GDP of Ireland, Chile, the Philippines (see World Bank GDP data).

** Note REN21 lists these as “renewable energy” in their totals. The total presented her doesn’t include nuclear, which is another “non-fossil fuel” power generation source. Also note the UNEP report has different figures for some of these totals.

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Jake Schmidt is the International Climate Policy Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council where he helps to develop the post-2012 international response to climate change (for more information see his blog).

LABELS: CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENT, GLOBAL WARMING, JAKE SCHMIDT, NRDC

Key actions on climate & energy that world leaders need to take at the Earth Summit in 2012

by Jake Schmidt

Carbon pollution from fossil fuel use reached the highest level yet in 2010, according to the International Energy Agency. So should we throw up our hands? No, this is a wake-up call that countries need to significantly speed up the pace of their action to reduce emissions. And when they come to the Earth Summit in Rio next June – just one short year from now – they have a chance to do just that. They better come prepared to implement new actions at home on climate and energy at the Earth Summit – held from June 4-6 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As NRDC’s President put it:

“When it comes to the protection of our planetary home, failure is not an option. We have no choice but to try to assure that the Earth Summit next year is truly historic and transformative and puts us on a road to a low carbon, greener and brighter future.”

In preparation for this “race to Rio”, NRDC is launching a detailed set of actions that countries, companies, and citizens can commit to implement at the Earth Summit (more details here). These are actions that will help protect the planet from the dangers of global warming, save citizens money, create jobs, and reduce pollution. They aren’t new ideas, nor are they innovative. They are steps that some governments around the world are beginning to implement. And they are steps that can be taken now.

So what we need at the Earth Summit next year is for more countries and companies to come to Rio and commit to implement these specific steps. And for countries that have already committed to these actions, we need clear commitments for how quickly they will be implemented. As the recent carbon pollution figures show us, we can’t wait until 2020 for countries to take action. We need implementation now in order to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.

While the climate negotiations will continue, governments, companies, and civil society groups should come to the Earth Summit prepared to take tangible steps towards greater deployment of low-carbon energy technologies, improved energy and water efficiency, reduced deforestation emissions, reduced black carbon emissions, and the stimulation of low-carbon economies by implementing these critical steps:

1. Actively phase out fuel subsidies, following the binding commitments already made by G-20 countries
2. Develop and enforce best practice and minimum performance energy and water standards for appliances and equipment and ensure an ongoing process to develop all cost effective standards by 2015
3. Phase out inefficient light bulbs through the establishment of minimum energy efficiency standards that reduce energy use of new bulbs by at least 65%
4. Deploy renewable energy by countries undertaking specific commitments and programs to speed up the deployment of clean energy throughout the world
5. Promote clean and efficient vehicles that will cut greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles by 30% by 2020 and by 50% by 2030, including policies, programs and standards adopted by individual countries that address sales and use of new, and where appropriate, imported and/or used vehicles
6. Stimulate a market for clean cook stoves and invest in the efficient production of biomass fuels, with the goal of having clean and efficient stoves in 100 million homes by 2020 and thereby minimizing incidence of respiratory illnesses; deforestation; and destruction of local habitats
7. Replace polluting, inefficient, expensive, dangerous and unhealthy kerosene-based lighting with cleaner alternatives, such as solar lanterns.
8. Phase down HFCs by governments adopting new commitments covering these super greenhouse gases under the Montreal Protocol and by companies agreeing to phase down their use in products that they produce, use, or sell
9. Reduce deforestation emissions by key corporations committing to avoiding purchasing products that cause deforestation, such as soy or cattle from deforested lands in the Brazilian Amazon, palm oil from deforested agricultural land in Indonesia, or illegal wood and wood products throughout the world
10. Undertake large-scale, environmentally and socially responsible reforestation efforts
11. Strengthen and increase the use of green building technologies and standards by working with the new GLOBE Alliance
12. Phase out lending by public and private financial institutions for energy projects with high GHG emissions
13. Create and enforce standards to reduce environmental risks associated with natural gas development, including the use of “fracking” to access natural gas
14. Commit to systematically evaluating, and where cost-effective, applying ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation (e.g., rehabilitating mangroves may be more cost-effective against storm surge than building a sea wall).

These steps by themselves aren’t sufficient to address global warming, but by taking these steps countries will show that they are serious in their commitments to address global warming and deploy clean energy. After all, these are very reasonable and effective steps.

So while Rio is a beautiful city to visit, world leaders and the CEOs of major companies should only attend if they are prepared to implement these steps in their country and their products. Otherwise they should stay home and explain to their citizens and consumers why they won’t implement these very reasonable actions to protect their children and grandchildren’s future.

Nothing short of this is sufficient for world leaders as they come to the next Earth Summit in 2012.

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Jake Schmidt is the International Climate Policy Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council where he helps to develop the post-2012 international response to climate change (for more information see his blog).

LABELS: CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENT, GLOBAL WARMING, JAKE SCHMIDT, NRDC