Transition to Renewable Energy: The Key to Address Climate Change

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): The new report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) states that countries across the world have tremendous opportunities to enhance their renewable energy initiatives so as to achieve the climate objectives under the Paris Agreement.

The IRENA Report analyzes Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are considered to be a cornerstone of Paris Climate Change Agreement. Incidentally, NDCs outline the set of actions that the countries plan to undertake in order to achieve the objectives of the agreement. IRENA points out that most of the NDCs feature renewable energy initiatives. According to the report, transition to renewable energy has now been globally accepted as the key component to address climate change. There is still reasonable scope for countries to lift their renewable energy initiatives.

Out of the 194 parties to the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that have submitted NDCs, 145 have included renewable energy action as an essential component in achieving climate change objective. This could help in attracting additional investment in renewable energy sector. It is estimated that an investment of around US$ 1.7 trillion would be required to implement the renewable energy targets contained in the NDCs.

In addition, the implementation of the NDCs would result in addition of at least 1.3 terawatts of renewable energy installed capacity across the globe in the years between 2015 and 2030, the report said. However, the implementation estimates average annual growth of 3.6% in renewable energy deployment over 2015-2030. This is significantly lower when compared with the recent growth rates. Incidentally, the average growth of installed capacity of renewable energy between 2010 and 2016 had reported tremendous annual growth of 8.5%.

The IRENA Report also states that renewable energy targets mentioned in NDCs are often less ambitious than the targets that these countries have already mentioned in their national energy plans. Also, the cost-effective potential is much higher when compared with what is captured in NDCs. IRENA suggests that countries could explore new opportunities other than electricity generation, deployment of solar water heaters and advancement of biogas.

The initial progress towards the Climate Change Agreement will be assessed in 2018, the findings of which will be utilized towards preparation of new NDCs. A second round of submission of NDCs is due in 2020. The parties are required to submit progressively more ambitious NDCs once in five years.