by Jake Schmidt
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Earth Summit 2012 |
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
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
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%).
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).
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
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