The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is to push ahead with a full assessment of renewable energy sources and climate change mitigation for completion in 2010.
“The Special Report will be the reference document for governments and policymakers around the world on renewables,” said Steve Sawyer, secretary general of Global Wind Energy Council.
“The IPCC’s 4th Assessment Report outlined very clearly the threat posed by the accelerating rate of climate change and highlighted the fact that we have the means to solve the problem.
“In the critical next decade, renewables are the key option for reducing fossil fuel emissions, along with energy efficiency. The IPCC recognised that the rapidly growing renewable energy sector deserves special attention given the extraordinary growth experienced by wind power and other technologies, even since the cut-off date for material for the 4th assessment report, which was late in 2006.”
The 4th report highlighted very clearly that if we are to avoid the worst ravages of man-made climate change, global greenhouse gas emissions must be under control before 2020.
As a result of a scoping meeting held earlier this year, a proposal was developed which will address the subject in five main sections:
Renewable energy and climate change.
The individual technologies and their integration into the overall energy system.
Renewable energy and sustainable development.
Climate change mitigation potentials and costs.
Policy, financing and implementation.
The objective is that this “special report” on renewable energy would provide a better understanding of the following:
Resources by region and impacts of climate change on these resources.
The mitigation potential of renewable energy sources.
The linkages between renewable energy growth and co-benefits in achieving sustainable development by region.
The impacts on global, regional and national energy security.
The technology and market status, future developments and projected rates of deployment.
The options and constraints for integration into the energy supply system and other markets, including energy storage options.
The economic and environmental costs, benefits, risks and impacts of deployment.
Capacity building, technology transfer and financing in different regions.
Policy options, outcomes and conditions for effectiveness.
The accelerated deployment could be achieved in a sustainable manner.
The next step will be for governments to nominate experts to compile the vast quantity of literature on the subject and write the report.
Eventually, the summary for policymakers will be presented to the full IPCC for adoption.
The outline of the special report is available on the IPCC website at
http://www
.
ipcc.ch/meetings/session28
/doc3.pdf
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