World needs 4 trillion dollar investment per year till 2030 in RE to meet net zero targets: UN

Renewable are the only path to real energy security, stable power prices and sustainable employment opportunities: Guterres

New Delhi: To meet the net-zero emission by 2050, the world would require, at least 4 trillion dollar per year investment in renewable energy sector, including technology and infrastructure till 2030, as per the United Nations.

On Wednesday, World Metrological Originations (WMO) in its State of the Global Climate in 2021 report incicated that Greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rises, ocean heat, and acidification all set new records during 2021.

Reacting to the report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, outlined five critical actions the world needs to prioritize and said that the key to tackling this crisis is to end our reliance on energy generated from fossil fuels, the main cause of climate change.

The five points include: Make renewable energy technology a global public good, Improve global access to components and raw materials, Level the playing field for renewable energy technologies, Shift energy subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energy and Triple investments in renewable.

“Renewables are the only path to real energy security, stable power prices and sustainable employment opportunities” António Guterres added.

“The good news is that the lifeline is right in front of us,” says UN Secretary-, stressing that renewable energy technologies like wind and solar already exist today, and in most cases, are cheaper than coal and other fossil fuels. We now need to put them to work, urgently, at scale and speed.

Fossil-fuel subsidies are one of the biggest financial barriers hampering the world’s shift to renewable energy.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that about $5.9 trillion was spent on subsidizing the fossil fuel industry in 2020 alone, including through explicit subsidies, tax breaks, and health and environmental damages that were not priced into the cost of fossil fuels. That’s roughly $11 billion a day.

“Fossil fuel subsidies are both inefficient and inequitable. Across developing countries, about half of the public resources spent to support fossil fuel consumption benefits the richest 20 percent of the population” IMF said.

“Shifting subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energy not only cuts emissions, it also contributes to the sustainable economic growth, job creation, better public health and more equality, particularly for the poor and most vulnerable communities around the world” said UN

Nationally Determined Contributions, countries’ individual climate action plans to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts, must set 1.5C aligned renewable energy targets – and the share of renewables in global electricity generation must increase from today’s 29 percent to 60 percent by 2030.

“Clear and robust policies, transparent processes, public support and the availability of modern energy transmission systems are key to accelerating the uptake of wind and solar energy technologies” It said.