Ensuring clarity on green taxonomies is vital for facilitating a rapid shift of investment to carry out the global energy transition.
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) said recently in a press release that the current global energy crisis has revealed the continued dangers of depending on fossil fuels and is a reality check to G20 policymakers that these are the symptoms of a delayed and disorderly energy transition.
GWEC said that globally, governments have simply been too slow and too hesitant in carrying out the transition, which has prolonged reliance on coal, oil and gas.
The only permanent fix for the three related problems of security, affordability and climate change is a determined and accelerated effort to move away from fossil fuels to renewables.
Ambitions in this direction have been set. For instance, the 2030 Breakthroughs under the Race to Zero outlines the pathway to halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 across more than 30 sectors that make up the global economy.
It is now or never, as made resoundingly clear in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climate change mitigation and the UN Secretary General’s recent remarks on scaling renewables.
Without immediate, deep and sustained emissions reductions, it will be impossible to limit global warming to close to 1.5°C. This will require enhancing policies and market instruments to be more effective in mobilising large-scale investment in renewable energy like wind and solar power.
The GWEC believes that there is more than sufficient global capital available to support a decisive shift away from fossil fuels, which are increasingly price-volatile and undermine energy security for countries forced to import energy. With regards to the actual cost of power, renewables are already out-competing fossil fuels around the world.
The GWEC suggests two areas which could be reformed in the short term to better align investment signals with energy security, affordability and climate goals.
The first would be to set robust guidelines on green taxonomy which will ensure a merit order is in place for public/private investment in energy projects. This can work to mobilise investment in large-scale renewable energy projects which can support a way out of the energy crisis and are in line with energy, security and climate goals.
The second would be to accelerate the permitting of grid-scale wind and solar projects, through open call procedures for project applications and a series of fast-track measures.
This can quickly bring onshore wind, offshore wind and solar projects in the development pipeline, which amounts to nearly 1 000 gW globally, to construction within the next three years.
In addition to these areas, we acknowledge that investment in other enablers of system transformation will be needed to ease the energy crisis and meet net-zero targets, such as grid and transmission infrastructure, energy storage, energy efficiency, and management of supply chain constraints.
The South African Wind Energy Association envisages that by 2030, the South African electricity generation mix is set to comprise 17 742 megawatts derived from wind which will equal 22.7% of total energy generation.
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