A New Momentum for Climate Change Mitigation: Renewables Working Together
With the new US Administration in office, China committing to becoming climate neutral by 2060, the European Green Deal and a strong social climate movement being active around the globe, the international climate change mitigation efforts have gained additional momentum. Many governments, amongst them the largest greenhouse gas emitters, have raised their climate ambitions in the past weeks and months. Amibitions by many governments to build back better, in response to the Covid-19 crisis, have added to the new climate momentum.
This new momentum has been reflected in the work of three international key organisations working on the global energy transformation: IRENA, IEA and REN21. Accordingly, representatives from these three organisations presented their latest key reports which include scenarios on how the world can reach its climate goals and keep global warming at 1,5°C. In response, the REN Alliance partners, representing the renewable energy practitioners, commented on the findings of the organisations, and highlighted what needs to be done from the practitioners’ viewpoints, e.g. on policies/legal frameworks, innovation, socioeconomic development or sustainability standards.
The REN Alliance is a coalition of five renewable industry organizations that works towards a world where our energy needs are met primarily by renewable sources. Its mission is to demonstrate how renewables can work together in different local, national and regional contexts to meet the world’s energy needs. The partners include: International Geothermal Association (IGA), International Hydropower Association (IHA), International Solar Energy Society (ISES), World Bioenergy Association (WBA) and World Wind Energy Association (WWEA).