In a joint statement entitled “communicating and proving the urgency and feasibility of 100% renewable energy is key to breaking the climate deadlock”, members of the Global 100% Renewable Energy Coalition, including the World Wind Energy Association, World Bioenergy Association and the Fraunhofer ISE Institute, criticized “the ongoing stagnancy of the climate negotiations and their struggle to agree upon and implement measures that effectively combat the climate crisis.”
However the coalition also applauded the fact that local, regional and national governments across the world are leading the way in global efforts to combat climate change. These include communities, regions and countries from the US to Europe and Australia which are already celebrating their recent transition to 100% renewable energy (RE) in energy supply. In Germany for instance 74 regions and municipalities have already reached 100% RE. Entire nations like Denmark, Iceland, Scotland, Costa Rica, Maldives Islands, Cook Islands, Tuvalu, and Tokelau have also set and already partly achieved this ambitious target.
The Global 100% Renewable Energy Coalition was founded by the World Future Council, World Wind Energy Association, World Bioenergy Association, International Solar Energy Society, International Geothermal Association, Fraunhofer ISE, deENet, Climate Alliance, Renewables 100 Policy Institute and World Council for Renewable Energy.
The campaign by the coalition is the first global initiative that advocates 100% renewable energy. It aims to build a global alliance and prove that power generation from 100 percent sustainable renewable energy is urgent and achievable. The coalition is attempting to inspire change by steering the global discourse on renewable energy towards 100 percent RE as a new normal, showcasing good examples and joining together often fragmented advocates of renewable energy. It will build on projects that are already taking place throughout the world and initiate dialogue, building capacity and educating policymakers with regard to opportunities, case studies and stories that are already happening.
“The growing global movement shows that making the transition to 100% RE is primarily a political — not technical – challenge” said Stefan Gsänger, Secretary General of World Wind Energy Association. “The necessary technologies and knowledge already exist today.”
According to Heinz Kopetz, President of the World Bioenergy Association, climate change debates have all too often become associated with failing political negotiations and inadequate actions. “Messaging is criticized for being long on problems and short on solutions” he said. “There is an urgent need to change this.”
The recently published IPCC report highlighted the fact that burning of fossil resources is the main reason behind a 40 percent increase in CO2 concentrations since the industrial revolution. The world's leading scientists have not only called for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, but have also identified sustainable and efficient energy systems as the prerequisite for achieving the internationally agreed upon climate protection target.
“The more organizations and institutions support this initiative, the stronger the impact on policy makers to heed this global movement” said Anna Leidreiter, Coordinator of the Global 100% Renewable Energy Campaign and Policy Officer at the World Future Council. “In many countries there seems to be a verbal consensus on the necessity of ambitious climate change mitigation policies without a convincing perspective of the necessary policy decisions to be reached in due time. One answer in breaking the inertia is the robust, global campaign for 100% renewable energy.”
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