Could Cancun Deliver a Global Renewable Energy Standard?

December 6th, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

As international negotiators meet once more in the ongoing attempt to get international agreement to cut greenhouse gases to safe levels, one idea being presented at the climate talks at Cancun is an international Global – Renewable Energy Standard (G-RES).

The American Council On Renewable Energy made the proposal on Friday. As described for Forbes by William Pentland, a self described policy wonk at the Pace Energy and Climate Center, European reaction was positive.

“Agreeing on a global renewable energy target would be a positive signal for the world that countries are really serious and take concrete action against climate change,” said Arthorous Zervos, President of the European Renewable Energy Council. “It is high-time to deliver a concrete outcome of the UN climate talks, the agreement on a global renewable energy target would send a signal of hope to the world.”

Explaining the proposal, ACORE President Michael Eckhart said, “We know today that three of the cornerstone paths to climate protection are the adoption of renewable energy, investment in greater energy efficiency, and protection of the rainforests as the Earth’s lungs. It is time to have concerted action on each of those three paths, getting started on what we know will work.”

The G-RES proposed would allow nations to comply with the requirement by either installing renewable energy systems sufficient to meet the goal or paying other nations to do it for them, and require that every nation source 25% of its energy from renewable sources by 2025. Some nations have already exceed these targets; like 90% renewably powered Costa Rica, and 75% renewable New Zealand.

China has just passed ten-year legislation that requires it to get a staggering 500 Gigawatts of renewable energy on the grid in ten years with a 15% by 2020 Renewable Energy Standard. They would need to add another 10% to get to this 25% target by 2025. Europe is mostly within this range. Although the US is incapable of passing a national RES, about half the US states already are working on targets for 2020 and at least twelve states have RES policy within this range for 2025.

Image: Alvaro Sanchez-Montanes

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Tags: American Council On Renewable Energy, Cancun

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

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http://www.renewablenergy.co Gerald Spencer

The thought that Cancun is going to make a difference to Climate Change policy today is at best optimistic. My reasons for this statement are that the players are largely the same, the world is in the middle of a depression, and technology development is failing due to lack of cash.

Two promising marine technologies which I have been tracking have failed because the funding streams were not robust enough. Requiring Governments to fund device, infrastructure and enabling technologies is needed to bring some of these devices to full scale test status. The funding rounds, in the UK, are pitiful and are more damaging that useful in that valuable IPR is traded for funding.

To hear that China is planning huge investment in renewables is great news however has anyone considered who will own the IPR of devices homegrown Governments refuse to fund. Since many technologies require rare earth magnets and China has the largest known source this could also stifle further development outside of China.

The World has been at this crossroads for many years now and until rampant commercialism is curbed and real power passed from stock exchanges back to government then the talking will continue. I do not count myself as one of the radicals however whilst Governments give Billions to the perpetrators of the current mess there continues to be little hope of a settlement.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  Yes, it had seemed unlikely, I thought too. But Montreal got stuff passed that all nations agreed to, it is possible.
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Bob Wallace

Wonder how long it will take for the rest of the world to get fed up with US foot-dragging and impose a carbon tariff on US exports?

(I’m having a black moment….)