Calls for Urgent Action and Concrete Targets to Triple Renewable Energy Installations by 2030 Ignored at the G20 Meeting
In response to the G20 Clean Energy Ministerial held in India, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and the Global Renewables Alliance (GRA) have expressed disappointment over the lack of ambition and concrete actions to combat climate change and achieve a net-zero world by 2050.
CEO of GWEC, Ben Backwell, criticized the outcome of the ministerial meeting, stating that it fell short of addressing the urgent need to rapidly scale up renewable energy deployment. Despite India’s efforts to support greater ambition in renewable energy, the final statement was deemed a “watered-down” affirmation of “business as usual.” Backwell emphasized the necessity of tripling annual wind power installations globally by 2030 to keep the 1.5C temperature target alive, which was not adequately addressed in the meeting.
Bruce Douglas, CEO of GRA, echoed GWEC’s sentiments, calling the G20 meeting a missed opportunity to tackle the climate crisis. He stressed that merely acknowledging the potential of renewable energy is insufficient, and urged world leaders to set ambitious targets that would drive investor confidence and encourage collaboration among countries and industries for rapid implementation.
Both organizations urged for a global target of tripling total renewable energy capacity to at least 11 TW by 2030, sending the right market signals and spurring urgent action to combat the escalating risks and costs associated with climate change.
As the world approaches COP28 in Dubai later in the year, both GWEC and GRA emphasized the critical need for policymakers to take the climate emergency seriously and commit to concrete actions to address the pressing challenges posed by climate change. They emphasized that the time for ambitions and actions is now, and renewable energy must play a central role in the global efforts to combat the climate crisis.