The Energy Mix

Top Menu

  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact

Main Menu

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

logo

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
Advanced Search
Auto & Alternative VehiclesBuildingsCarbon-Free TransitionCoalDemand & EfficiencyDrive to 1.5Electricity GridEnergy Access & EquityEnergy SubsidiesEnergy/Carbon Pricing & EconomicsFinance & InvestmentHealth & SafetyHuman Rights & MigrationHydrogenInternational Agencies & StudiesOil & GasTransit
Home›Demand & Distribution›Auto & Alternative Vehicles›Government Stimulus Packages Lock In Fossil Growth, Squander Opportunity for Green Recovery, Global Assessment Warns

Government Stimulus Packages Lock In Fossil Growth, Squander Opportunity for Green Recovery, Global Assessment Warns

June 16, 2020
June 16, 2020
 
132
0
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story
Ölförderung in Alberta

Too many governments are squandering the opportunity to build a green recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, directing dollars to technologies that will lock in their dependence on fossil fuels, the Paris-based REN21 Secretariat warned yesterday with the release of its Renewables 2020 Global Status Report.

While the 367-page report puts off full consideration of the pandemic and its implications for the energy transition until 2021, it points to available options to “build back better” after the pandemic. It notes that “green recovery measures, such as investment in renewables and building efficiency, are more cost-effective than traditional stimulus measures, creating more jobs and delivering higher returns. Renewable energy also offers a range of other proven benefits, including increasing energy security, reducing emissions, and improving human health.”

Like this story? Subscribe to The Energy Mix and never miss an edition of our free e-digest.

SUBSCRIBE

But while the report notes that “calls for a green recovery have gained momentum, with a broad coalition of actors from all corners of society advocating an ambitious stimulus package,” the more up-to-date news release accompanying the document says that opportunity may be slipping away. Many of the national recovery packages that have emerged “include ideas that will instead lock us further into a dirty fossil fuel system,” said REN21 Executive Director Rana Adib. “Some directly promote natural gas, coal, or oil. Others, though claiming a green focus, build the roof and forget the foundation. Take electric cars and hydrogen, for example. These technologies are only green if powered by renewables.”

Those gaps are emerging despite the availability of renewable alternatives that “support energy sovereignty and democracy, empowering citizens and communities, instead of big fossil fuel producers and consumers,” the release adds. 

“When spending stimulus money, we have to decide: Do we want an energy system that serves some or a system that serves many?” Adib asked. “But it’s not only about money. We must end any kind of support to the fossil economy,” which means that “governments need to radically change the market conditions and rules and demonstrate the same leadership as during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The REN21 analysis shows renewable electricity posting record growth again in 2019, capping an impressive run over the last five years. But it wasn’t enough to make up for slow progress in heating, cooling, and transport, or to offset continuing growth in global energy demand. Renewable energy met 26.4% of global electricity demand last year—but electricity only represented 17% of total energy use. Heating and cooling accounted for 51% of demand, of which renewables only supplied 10.1%. Transport made up the other 32% of global energy use, with only 3.3% of that demand met by renewable sources.

Overall, REN21 says total final energy demand grew 1.4% per year from 2013 to 2018, and renewables’ share only increased from 9.6 to 11%.

“Renewable power has made fantastic progress,” Adib noted. “It beats all other fuels in growth and competitiveness. Many national and global organizations already cry victory.”

But “our report sends a clear warning: The progress in the power sector is only a small part of the picture. And it is eaten up as the world’s energy hunger continues to increase. If we do not change the entire energy system, we are deluding ourselves.”

“Yet again, the REN21 assessment of the status of renewables tells us that governments are not listening to the science and acting on what is needed to address climate change,” said Climate Action Network-International Executive Director Tasneem Essop. “While people struggle to deal with the impacts of multiple crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, inequality, and climate change, governments are busy developing and implementing economic stimulus packages and industry bailouts that will lock in deadly fossil fuel economies for decades to come.”

Essop called this year’s REN21 assessment a “wakeup call” that should galvanize governments to invest stimulus dollars in renewables rather than fossil fuels.

“While renewables are growing, their increase is much too slow worldwide,” added Stephan Singer, CAN-I’s senior advisor on global climate science and energy policies. “To address climate change effectively, annual investments have to triple in this decade and energy efficiency improvements have to double each year in all economic sectors.”

“It’s a failing to our planet if we miss this unprecedented opportunity to tackle the climate, racism, and COVID pandemics plaguing the world at once,” said Jean Su, director of the energy justice program at the U.S. Center for Biological Diversity. “The mass deployment of clean and renewable energy is vital to ensuring an enduring future and ending the fossil fuel era that has put profit over people and the planet for too long.

TagsCanada Net Zero - InternationalDrive to 1.5Drive to 1.5 National Plans & ResponsesEnergy Central - Energy CollectiveUS Election 2020 - Global Crisis Local ImpactsWe Don't Have Time
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story

Find more stories about
Auto & Alternative VehiclesBuildingsCarbon-Free TransitionCoalDemand & EfficiencyDrive to 1.5Electricity GridEnergy Access & EquityEnergy SubsidiesEnergy/Carbon Pricing & EconomicsFinance & InvestmentHealth & SafetyHuman Rights & MigrationHydrogenInternational Agencies & StudiesOil & GasTransit

    Leave a reply Cancel reply

    Recent Posts

    • Alberta Calls for $30-Billion Carbon Capture Subsidy in Upcoming Federal Budget
      Alberta Calls for $30-Billion Carbon Capture Subsidy in Upcoming Federal Budget
      March 10, 2021
    • Panicky Messaging on Line 5 Closure Threat Masks Real Issues with Pipeline, Oil by Rail
      Panicky Messaging on Line 5 Closure Threat Masks Real Issues with Pipeline, Oil by Rail
      March 10, 2021
    • Experts Brace for Disaster as Canada, U.S. Increase Oil-by-Rail Shipments
      Experts Brace for Disaster as Canada, U.S. Increase Oil-by-Rail Shipments
      March 10, 2021
    • Quebec LNG Megaproject Will Drive Up Power Rates with $310M Revenue Hit, Analysis Finds
      Quebec LNG Megaproject Will Drive Up Power Rates with $310M Revenue Hit, Analysis Finds
      March 10, 2021
    • Sketchy Carbon Accounting Turns Net-Zero Targets into ‘Weapons-Grade Greenwash’, Scientist Warns
      Sketchy Carbon Accounting Turns Net-Zero Targets into ‘Weapons-Grade Greenwash’, Scientist Warns
      March 10, 2021

    News Feed

    Top News

    • Study Probes Northern Permafrost Loss at 1.5°, 2.0°C Average Warming
      March 9, 2021
    • China Plans Online Carbon Trading Market by Mid-Year
      March 9, 2021

    Read More

    Carbon-Free Transition

    • Electric Motorbikes Fuel Carbon-Free Future for East Africa
      March 9, 2021
    • Volatile Market, Competing Automakers Drive Down Tesla’s Share Price
      March 9, 2021

    Read More

    Canada

    • Yukon Energy Turns to First Nation as Site for Territory’s Biggest Grid Battery
      March 9, 2021
    • Northeastern B.C. First Nation Gets Oilfield Services Training
      March 9, 2021

    Read More

    U.S.

    • Second-Biggest U.S. Coal Mine Heads Toward Closure
      March 9, 2021
    • U.S. Legislator to Target Big Oil for Oversight
      March 9, 2021

    Read More

    International

    • China Plans Online Carbon Trading Market by Mid-Year
      March 9, 2021
    • Pacific Islands Unveil Faster Shift to Renewables
      March 9, 2021

    Read More

    • About the Energy Mix
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy and Copyright
    Copyright 2020 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.