Green Growth and Renewable Energy

Since 1988 the United Nations (UN) has determined climate change as a common problem for all mankind. That same year, UNEP and WMO established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide the scientific guidance needed to take further action.

Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change-IPCC) 4th of 2007 has set a maximum global warming level of 2° C.

The threshold is believed by IPCC experts to be the limit of adaptation of the earth's carrying capacity to stabilize the climate. An increase in global temperatures of more than 2°C is expected to wreak havoc on life, both present and future generations.

The Paris Agreement creates legally binding obligations on the parties, based on voluntary commitments to implement Nationally Determined Contributions/NDCs. The goal is to limit global temperature rise to below 2°C from pre-industrial levels and make efforts to limit it to below 1.5°C.

Fossil fuels are responsible for climate change, and also contribute greatly to biodiversity loss and pollution. The shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is a necessary step and making renewable energy the norm is not a matter of technology or cost. Currently, around 80% of global energy and 66% of

electricity generation is supplied from fossil fuels, contributing around 60% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which are responsible for climate change.[iv]

According to Inger Andersen Executive Director of UNEP, the results of the UNEP Emissions Gap Research revealed that the energy sector could reduce its annual emissio

ns by 12.5 gigatonnes – about a quarter of the total global annual emissions. The benefits of the energy transition do not stop at climate change, as investing in the energy transition will create three times as many jobs as a similar investment in fossil fuels. For example,

efficiency building retrofit (renovation) projects and efficient new building construction can create 9-30 jobs per million dollars of spending. According to Inger, this is the most cost-effective job in the energy sector and at the same time providing clean and efficient energy will reduce air pollution, help quality education and health care, and provide many other social benefits.[v]

Read: Levelized Cost of Energy