Renewable Energy Options

Independent Films, Global Warming, Technology

A new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that close to 77 percent of the world‘s energy supply could be met by renewables by mid-century if backed by the right enabling public policies.

According to media reports, the findings were criticized and called an overoptimistic scenario by various environmental organizations at its launch in early May.

Speaking to reporters at the United Nations (UN) headquarters today (28 June), head of the IPCC Rajendra Pachauri explained that “the intention was to indicate that there is a large range of possibilities as far as the share of renewable energy is concerned and of these 164 different scenarios the one that gives the highest level of penetration by renewabels goes up to 77 percent by 2015.”

Pachauri said that he did not state in any way that that was what the IPCC believed would be the future of renewable energy.

When asked what governments could do to mitigate the effects of climate change, he said that while addressing a limit to the concentration of greenhouse gases that the global community aspires to, governments must also take into account the health benefits as a result of lower pollution at the local level, greater levels of employment and higher agriculture output.

Pachauri added that it was for governments to now take a comprehensive view irrespective of whether there is a global deal or not on limiting emissions of greenhouse gases.

He warned that if emissions continue on, the impact of climate change would become “progressively negative.”

The findings of the “Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation” (SRREN) were prepared by over 120 researchers working with the IPCC. They indicate that the rising penetration of renewable energies could lead to cumulative greenhouse gas savings equivalent to 220 to 560 Gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GtC02eq) between 2010 and 2050.

According to the report, the upper end of the scenarios assessed, representing a cut of around a third in greenhouse gas emissions from business-as-usual projections, could assist in keeping concentrations of greenhouse gases at 450 parts per million.

This could contribute towards a goal of holding the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, an aim recognized in the UN Climate Convention's Cancun Agreements.

The report will feed into the broader work of the IPCC as it prepares its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). The AR5 Synthesis Report is scheduled for finalization in September 2014.

Tags

• Renewable Energy
• UN
• climate change
• Dr. Rajendra Pachauri

Directors:

• Muhamed Sacirbey (UNTV)

Producers:

• Susan Sacirbey (UNTV)