At the Lima Climate Change Conference today, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) recommended phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies and aggressive emission reduction targets as key policy changes to facilitate energy revolution.
Governments should also implement an effective price on CO2 emissions and ensure the functioning of electricity markets that accurately value wind and solar, as well as clean air and water, GWEC said.
Wind and solar will prevent the emission of 3,800 million tons of CO2Â each year by 2030, and it could be much more with the right policy and market framework, the global wind agency said.
Solar and wind are transforming the energy sector. These renewable energy sources play a huge role in combating climate change.
“We have the technology to solve a big part of the climate problem. What we need now are the political will and leadership necessary to create a sustainable energy future – and to do it in time to save the planet”, said Steve Sawyer, CEO of GWEC at Lima Climate Change Conference today.
Today the power sector is responsible for more than 40 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, and about 25 percent of our total greenhouse gas emissions, according to GWEC.
Wind and solar are advancing. Their scalability, speed of deployment and plummeting costs make them the ideal choice to bring about the early emissions reductions and keep the global mean temperature rise to 2oC or less.
Both wind and solar are competing directly with heavily subsidized conventional sources in many markets around the world.
Rajani Baburajan